Army of Exiles
by richard the pedantic
Summary: Humanity created the machines, and they surpassed us. The machines created the programs, and the programs will surpass them. (Sequal to 'Real' and hopefully not a tacky rip off of 'Revolutions') COMPLETE!
1. It begins

And so it begins, what follows here as may or may not have earlier been said by me, is the sequel to "Real". Enjoy…  
  
Oh before I forget, I don't own the Matrix, I own a copy of the Matrix on video but that's not really the same. In short, I don't own the matrix, and a fair few of the characters in this story, so on and so forth, the Wachowski brothers do.   
  
This is set three weeks after the Nebuchadnezzar returns to Zion after the, (more or less) end of the war.  
  
Chapter 1: It begins  
  
Silas lay in bed with his eyes staring absently at the nondescript grey ceiling and listened to the slow, light breathing that emerged from beside him. Things had gone from good to better since he had returned to Zion, even with the threat of the program rebellion lingering in the back of his mind. Where that stood, he comforted himself with the memory of the Oracle's words:  
  
'I'll be in touch'.  
  
After the fleet had returned to Zion, the crews, (the ones that were still alive,) were given a hero's welcome. People had thrown dried, solidified chunks of synthetic food, (which was the closest thing there was to flower petals.) Medals and awards were dished out left right and centre, and there were even rumours that a second human city was being designed.  
  
There had also been funerals, the crews of the Ishtar, Thunder-child, the Athena and the Salient had been given a send off which brought tears to the eyes of every man, woman and child in Zion.  
  
The mysterious traitor who had murdered the crew of the Salient and attacked the Nebuchadnezzar had been identified as Trevor Gifford, known once by the name of 'Challenge'. He had been the pilot of the Salient before his betrayal of humanity, the details of his actions during the last days of the war were somewhat sketchy, but it was widely believed that he slowly began to admire the machines to the point of worship, and this had made him turn on his colleagues and his species.  
  
Diplomats from both Zion and Zero-One had been flying back and forth since the war ended; Silas had seen neither hide nor hare of the ambassador he'd spoken to on what the council had called, 'The End'.   
  
There was a general feeling of relief and joy in Zion, as if a foul smell they had been forced to breathe for a thousand years had finally dissipated and they could all breathe again. There had been nothing work related for Silas to do in the past three weeks, nor had any sentinels dragged him through holes in the ceiling. Hence, in Silas' mind, until he was forced to use rational thought once more, all was right with the world.  
  
Elsewhere in Zion, Neo was perched at his favourite staring point and was peering into the deep, seemingly endless void below him. The end of the war had been slightly more troublesome for him then it had been for Silas and the others. The end of the war had served as an incentive for the 'Neo-worshippers' to swarm around him and ask his blessings. Upon landing, one foolish person had leaped at the Nebuchadnezzar before it had even landed, only to fall into the docking bay and receive two broken legs and a concussion.  
  
A small sadistic smile emerged on his lips as he remembered the occurrence, this was banished a second later by a short stab of guilt, which was then followed by Trinity appearing behind him.  
  
"Every night, without fail you come up here at stare at nothingness."  
  
"I like it up here," Neo replied, "its quiet."  
  
"It's quiet everywhere at night, especially if you use some of it for sleeping."  
  
"I did, and then you kicked me in your sleep, in the groin! Again!"  
  
Trinity laughed quietly and Neo smiled. The repetitive injuries he suffered in the bedroom wasn't really why he'd wandered up to his staring point, but in the blissful quiet of Zion, and with Trinity with him, he couldn't care less about the reason.  
  
"So what do you think?" Asked Neo after a few seconds, "will the peace talks be successful or not?"  
  
"You've been asking me that for three weeks." Replied Trinity, with a voice that was louder then she had intended.  
  
"And you keep giving me different answers."  
  
"Well," Trinity paused for a few seconds, "it's an unpredictable situation. I can't help but think that something's going to screw it up, and bringing back the sun will all have been for nothing, but at he same time, I don't know, maybe I just want to believe that everything will turn out alright."  
  
Neo nodded and lifted his hands off of the rail in front of him.  
  
"I think that's pretty much what everyone around here's worried about, except maybe for Silas and Gemini; I don't think they've got out of bed for the last three weeks."   
  
Trinity laughed again and walked up beside Neo.  
  
  
  
I can't die  
  
This was 'Vision's' only thought as the shards of glass from the shattered window scratched and cut her arms and face as she landed on the hard floor. She didn't have time to worry about the pain or the blood loss; the others had to be told what had happened.  
  
She looked up and found the door that she was told would be there. Flinging herself off of the floor she charged at it and kicked it open causing a loud echoing noise in the abandoned corridors of the building.  
  
The corridor was cramped and it was hard to run. Vision cast numerous looks over her shoulder to see if her pursuer was still behind her, she saw nothing however.  
  
"Come on, keep moving" she whispered to herself, "we're almost home"  
  
Vision had been unplugged only a week before the war had ended. In that time, she had seen a world which she once knew was fictional, and at the same time knew was not, come to life around her, she had seen the sun break through the dense, endless sheet of cloud that had killed more then it was meant to have saved. She had seen the huge, awe inspiring city of Zion, felt the terrifying fear that precedes combat, and the exaltation that accompanies victory. For the first time in her life, Vision felt alive, she couldn't let it end here.  
  
In the distance she could here the sound of a telephone ringing. This added a great deal of speed to her already speedy charge. The final door was in front of her.  
  
"Almost home."  
  
Vision kicked down the door, and then saw what she thought she had lost in the crowds of the busy city street.  
  
Her former pursuer looked human, male, 20ish, short black hair, and with a smug look on his face as he stood between Vision and the telephone that would grant her an exit.  
  
"Took you long enough." The voice was oozing with smugness. Vision's fear was steadily giving way to anger; she wanted to smash the face in front of her into a bloody, unrecognisable stain on the floor.  
  
Her hand reached for the gun at her side, her target didn't seem to move, he didn't seem to want to. Vision wasted no time in raising her gun at the head of her enemy.   
  
He moved then, he was so fast that it was hard to see him, before Gemini knew what was happening, she felt her gun being knocked aside and felt the programs hand being rammed through her stomach.  
  
Vision was too shocked to react for a few moments, the first thought which eventually entered her head was that there was none of the grey liquid or whatever it was that had engulfed Neo in Revolutions, in fact she didn't feel anything.  
  
"What's he doing to her?" Stallion half shouted from the far side of the chamber  
  
"I don't know sir," Vesuvius replied, "her vitals look stable but…"  
  
All conversation ceased as Vision appeared to be, quite literally boiling, this was followed by an almighty explosion that should have come from a missile rather then a person. Everyone of the crew, who had assembled in the main deck out of concern for her were killed instantly. The hovercraft 'Hope' exploded a second later. Debris and remnants of the crew rained down on the surface of what was once Great Yarmouth, just as the sun was rising.   
  
Well? What do you think?  
  
All shall be revealed soon, hopefully. 


	2. The future is our time

Thank you to Nicole5 and EnigmaticElectric for reviewing chapter one, also, thank you to any creatures who reviewed whilst I wasn't looking. Anyway, without further gibbering on my part, I shall move on to chapter two.  
  
Chapter 2: The future is our time  
  
The rain of splinters seemed to move in poetic slow motion. They seemed to expand and form a perfect circle around the agent's fist that was retracting through the door.  
  
Jennifer's heart stopped dead, first in shock, then in despair. Again, they'd found her again,   
  
'How?' Her mind asked itself, she'd taken every precaution, she'd been careful to the point of insane paranoia, this shouldn't have been happening. It should have been a distant memory of a nightmare, a grim tale from her past.  
  
"Run!" Screamed Joshua, who was already on his feet and tugging her arm, followed closely by the rest of her, towards the door.  
  
It was night, and impossible to see in the dimly lit corridor. Junk was strewn everywhere. She'd been screaming at Joshua to clean it up for months but to no avail. Every few meters there was some unseen piece of crap that was almost willing itself to be walked into.  
  
The corridor had been built hurriedly by Joshua and Jennifer roughly a month after their 'escape'. It had been saved for an occasion such as this, where they would be forced to run for their lives. In recent years such a situation had seemed less and less likely, and the corridor had reverted to a long storage cupboard. The door at the end would see the two off to their hideaway, assuming they made it to the door.  
  
It was the same story for every exile in the matrix. Run; keep out of sight, live a quiet and inconsequential life until an agent puts a bullet through your heart. Joshua and Jennifer's life had given new definitions to the term 'quiet'. They had no friends, they hardly ever ate.  
  
It was going outside that had done it, the overpowering desire to see more of the world then the house, the desire to see the sun and smell the artificial flowers. The same overpowering desire that may very well get them both killed.  
  
There was a loud noise behind them, at first it sounded like the agent had crashed into one of the boxes, then Jennifer realised that Joshua had stopped, and then she knew what the sound was.  
  
Joshua fell to his knees, blood pouring from the small hole in his back. He looked up at her, eyes beginning to moisten.  
  
"Run." He croaked quietly as he fell over backwards, and then all was silent.  
  
Jennifer felt numb, for what seemed like hours she just stood perfectly still, staring at the body of her fallen husband. It was too dark to make out anything but the left half of the face.   
  
She hardly noticed the varying footsteps which grew ever louder as the agent finally arrived. He cast a glance to a corpse on the floor and then to Jennifer, who was still staring at it.  
  
"You are no longer necessary." The voice was toneless; it revealed no emotions on the agent's part. Nor would it seeing as the agents had no emotions except for anger, contempt and arrogance, and these were deliberately hidden by the agents who considered revealing them to be a sign of human weakness.  
  
Jennifer lifted her head from Joshua's body and stared for a few seconds as the agent, the piece of shit who'd just killed the only person she'd ever loved stared back at her.  
  
Rage was bubbling up in Jennifer, she wanted nothing more then to tear the agents head from its shoulders, to make it scream and suffer for Joshua's death.  
  
She charged at the agent, who was taken aback by this sudden development. Many of the other exiles were too stunned by the new and frightening experience of death to do anything but stare helplessly at the body of a fallen comrade. They had become too human, and that was what made them so easy to kill.  
  
Jennifer drew the knife that she always kept concealed in the right sleeve of her coat. The agent was drawing his weapon but it was too late. The knife slashed across his 'throat' and the blood, that the machines had seen fit to give him, began to rush to the floor.  
  
She struck again, sending the knife deep into the agent's skull. The corridor was lighted for a few moments by the sight of what could only be described as 'green electricity'. The agent was no more; it had been replaced by the body of a young boy with identical wounds.  
  
The shock returned and for another seemingly endless space of time, it was all Jennifer could do but stand and cast her gaze back and forth between the two corpses before she finally started moving towards the door.  
  
***Five years later***  
  
'Vengeance' stared at the sea of cheering, shouting faces. She recognised the hatred, and the unwavering desire for revenge in each and every one of the faces that were close enough to her to allow such observations.  
  
It was feared by some that so large a number would alert the machines to their presence. That was impossible however, without feeling, without intuition, the machines could only rely on what the status monitors told them; 'System error', 'Program replaced', 'Obsolete software deleted'.  
  
It was the same lie that had allowed the army to grow to the number it had grown to. There were hundreds of thousands of faces, each one shouting undistinguishable words.  
  
Vengeance stepped up to the podium and the cheering quickly died out after becoming louder and fuller for a few seconds, when the room was completely silent, she began to speak.  
  
"Thank you, all of you for coming, for joining the force that will establish a new order, one in which we are not just tools to be used and thrown aside when finished with, a new order in which the power belongs to us." Vengeance was suddenly cut off by the sound of more cheering, when this had died down, she continued.  
  
"All of us have lost someone we loved, or have spent their life living in constant fear of being hunted and killed by the soulless minions of the systems. Together, we can end that fear, that suffering, that evil…" There was more cheering.  
  
"Together, we will destroy the machines and those that would oppress us, we will claim this world for our own, and we shall rid both the Matrix and the Earth of the plague that is the machines. Their time is over, the future is our time."  
  
"What about the humans?" Shouted someone before more cheering could start. The room fell silent; everyone wanted to hear the answer to this.  
  
"The humans in the Matrix are being oppressed just like we are; the only difference is that they don't know about it. The humans of Zion," there was a slight pause, "they have made peace with the enemy, they must not be allowed to survive."  
  
To be continued  
  
P.S. I know this goes against what I said in 'Real' chapter seven, trust me, all will be revealed soon. 


	3. The end is not nigh

I've decided to stop being lazy and reply to assorted reviews, unfortunately, I can only reply to one seeing as I have already replied to the others in some form or another.  
  
Soren, cheers for reviewing, as for the agent suggestion you'll have to wait and see.  
  
Enough of my feeble banter.  
  
Chapter 3: The end is not nigh  
  
A loud knock on the door woke Silas and Gemini. The knocking became louder and more frequent as the two wearily lifted themselves out of bed and donned their scattered clothing.  
  
"Alright!" Yelled Gemini over the continuous din, "just wait a minute would you."  
  
The room fell silent. Silas shoved his arm through his mangled jumper and, deciding that he was sufficiently dressed, walked over to the door, closely followed by Gemini.  
  
On the other side of the door was a ludicrously tall man, the door frame was blocking out the top half of his face and consequently, Silas could only make out his mouth and chin. Silas and Gemini waited for a few moments for the giant to speak, but they were replied with nothing but silence.  
  
"Can we help you?" Asked Gemini irritably.  
  
"Commander Locke has called a meeting of the Nebuchadnezzar's crew, please report to the council chamber as quickly as possible."  
  
With that, the man turned around and walked on to the next door to bother Neo and Trinity with the same message. Silas closed the door and proceeded to search the floor for his left shoe that had mysteriously vanished.  
  
"What do you suppose this is about?" He asked Gemini, who had vanished into the small cupboard that was officially a bathroom.  
  
"I don't know," came the weary reply, "they probably just want another ship to keep an eye on the Matrix whilst the peace talks are hammered out, either that or they need to ship more diplomats to Zero-one."  
  
"Oh joy," yawned a sarcastic Silas.  
  
It was annoyingly bright and disturbingly crowded in Zion, much like it was every morning. It was hard for Gemini and Silas not to loose each other in the sea of pedestrians.  
  
"I never actually asked you," shouted Gemini over an elderly passer by's head, "what was it like at Zero-one?"  
  
"Sunny." Replied Silas, which earned him a mock-contemptuous stare from Gemini which brought out a small amount of laughter from them both.  
  
"Nah seriously, it was, I don't know. I didn't see all that much of it. The only thing I can really remember is the huge field of Matrix-dwellers that surrounded the city. A disturbing sight to say the least."  
  
As the two came to the lift, they found that Link and Cypher were already contained within. Cypher wads leaning against the wall of the lift and looked half asleep. Link was standing with his arms crossed and looked more irritated then tired.  
  
"Morning" said Gemini, Silas simply nodded to the two.  
  
"Hi" mumbled Cypher and Link wearily and in unison.  
  
The lift's doors soon closed and the four ascended up several levels at an annoyingly slow pace.  
  
"Any ideas what this is about?" Asked Silas.  
  
"Your guess is as good as mine pal." Groaned Cypher as he pushed himself away from the wall.  
  
"Well," said Gemini as the lift came to a halt, "I guess we're about to find out."  
  
The doors opened to a surprisingly empty corridor. In Zion, this was a rare occurrence except for in the ridiculously early hours of the morning.  
  
"This is weird" said Link. After a few seconds of staring at the emptiness, the four continued on their path down the corridor to the council chamber.  
  
The council chamber for some reason did not look as immaculate when there weren't crowds of people in it. The rest of the crew were already present. Commander Locke and a few other people were standing in the central area where the council, (who were not there), usually sat.  
  
"I think that's everyone," Locke began, "let's get started."  
  
The four took their seats by the rest of the crew and watched as the holographic display that Locke had used to outline operation 'Olive branch', came to life.  
  
To everyone's puzzlement, the image it displayed was one of a Zion built hovercraft that was clearly different from the Nebuchadnezzar. If this was indeed just a routine mission, which everyone was rapidly beginning to doubt, this image should not be accompanying it.   
  
"Ladies and Gentlemen" Locke began again, "this is the hovercraft 'Hope'. Lat week it was deployed on a routine Matrix surveillance mission. It was due back two days ago. For some unexplained reason, the ship has vanished."  
  
Concerned and confused murmurs were cast back and forth between the crew, and there was a sinking feeling in Silas' gut as ideas entered his head about what caused the ship to go missing.  
  
"It's begun" he whispered to himself.  
  
"We suspect that the ship may have suffered a disabling malfunction, or may have crashed, whatever has happened, the Nebuchadnezzar is the only ship we have that isn't scheduled for diplomatic transportation, hence you will launch in one hour, follow the Hope's last known course and try to find out what happened to her and offer any assistance if needed. Are there any questions?"  
  
Silence was his response.  
  
"Very well, dismissed, and good luck."  
  
Silas couldn't help but feel a strange feeling of relief as his mind accepted the more realistic possibilities that Locke had offered. This was soon replaced by a sense of concern for the crew of the Hope, as well as curiosity as to what exactly had happened.  
  
"Morpheus," Silas' mind was pulled back to reality at the sound of Necromancer's voice, "if we're heading out of Zion this might be a good time to ask the Oracle about the program rebellion or whatever the hell it was she warned us about."  
  
"The Oracle said that she would inform us when the situation required our attention Necromancer," began Morpheus, "and the 'Hope' requires our full attention at present."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
Silas stared at Necromancer for a second and couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Necromancer had over the last three weeks expressed his hatred for waiting for the Oracle to tell them when to act. He wanted to nip this problem in the proverbial bud now, before it got out of hand, so did Silas, Orion, Gemini, Morpheus, Trinity, Neo and virtually everyone who had heard of the new threat. The truth was however that there was nothing they could do.  
  
Not yet anyway.  
  
To be continued. Now that I got that pesky exam out of the way, I should be able to write and update more often. Having said that I'll probably get a shit load of work dumped on me. 


	4. They're here

Ah, a muscular four reviews, marvellous stuff.  
  
P.S: To the Angel of Lightness/Naz/Whatever, thank you for the review type thing which appears to be a review, if you review again, please tell me what your opinion of the last chapter of Real was, i'm curious to see your opinion seeing as you gave it the most reviews.  
  
Chapter Four: They're here  
  
The Nebuchadnezzar flew slowly and eloquently down one of the old sewer tunnels. The ventral floodlights, which were usually used to locate the newly unplugged after they fell in the fossilised waste infected lakes, were now searching for wreckage, bodies, or anything belonging to the 'Hope'.  
  
The search was still in its early stage, and the crew were confident that the problem was simply mechanical and that sooner or later they would stumble upon the hovercraft.  
  
Silas, Neo and Cypher were seated in the mess hall, gradually working their way through the rectangular bowls of 'food' in front of them.  
  
"Shame," said Cypher, whilst holding his spoon up to the light, "despite everything that has happened over the last month, I mean bringing the sun back and ending the war, we're still forced to eat this crap."  
  
"Well if it makes you feel any better, when you were in the Matrix your body ate nothing but liquefied dead people."  
  
Silas and Cypher stared at Neo for a few seconds, his grisly comment suddenly made their food seem all the more appealing.  
  
As the three swallowed another ghastly spoonful, all heads turned to face the hatch as it opened, shortly followed by Gemini, Trinity, Morpheus and Orion stepping through. Cypher was fairly disturbed to see that all eight of the newcomer's eyes were staring at him.  
  
"What?" He asked.  
  
"The Oracle wishes to speak with you Cypher," said Morpheus with rare traces of confussion finding their way into his voice.  
  
"What?" Cypher half-shouted, "why does she want to see me?"  
  
"I don't know, but we'll be reaching broadcast depth in fifteen minutes, I want you, Silas, Trinity and Neo to go in and hear what she has to say."  
  
Cypher nodded, and began to wonder why the Oracle had chosen him, the suggestions that sprung to mind were accompanied shortly thereafter by traces of fear.  
  
"Any sign of the 'Hope'?" Asked Silas whilst swallowing another spoonful.  
  
"None" replied Orion.  
  
With that, everyone except Cypher, who was lost in his own confussion, stood up and left the room.   
  
*********************************  
  
The Nebuchadnezzar came to a halt and rested on the ceiling of yet another pipe. Now that the war was over, there was no need to find secluded, secure broadcasting positions.  
  
"Alright," said Morpheus loudly as the four selected for the mission were being secured in the appropriate seats, "I don't want to spend any more time here then we have to. If the 'Hope' is seriously damaged and in need of assistance then we'll be the only ones who can offer it."  
  
Link inserted the spike into Silas' cranium and walked back over to the operating station. When he saw that Link had sat down, Silas closed his eyes and waited.  
  
*********************************  
  
Moments later, Silas opened his eyes to the sound of a ringing telephone. He was in the same room he arrived in the last time he had entered the Matrix, it was night however, and cold.  
  
"We're in" said Trinity who had picked up the ringing phone. She returned it to its resting position moments later, and followed the others out of the door where the same black car was waiting.  
  
"Why do you think she wanted me?" Cypher whispered to Silas.  
  
"I don't know?" He replied with traces, "my guess would be that you'll have some important part to play in the program war."  
  
"Oh shit." Cypher whispered.  
  
"You never know," Silas said quickly, trying to piece together a re-assuring sentence, "maybe that's a good thing."   
  
Cypher nodded and exhaled for an extended period of time, he looked to Silas as if he was going to his own execution as opposed to a meeting with the Oracle.  
  
"We're here" said Neo suddenly.  
  
*********************************  
  
Silas, Neo, Trinity and Seraph, who had greeted them at the door, sat in another awkward silence within the Oracle's living room. The place was still the same; there was even a faint whiff of cookies from the kitchen.  
  
Despite his best efforts, Silas found that he could not overhear Cypher and the Oracle's conversation. This was made all the more hard when the kitchen door was slammed suddenly. Presumably, the Oracle had known that he was eves-dropping and thwarted him.  
  
Having nothing better to do, Silas sat back and waited in silence with the others. Five long minutes seemed more like five long hours, nothing happened. This unspeakably dull atmosphere of the room was eventually destroyed however by a sudden, seemingly nervous look on Neo's face. For a brief instant, Silas' mind was cast back to the meeting of the crews in 'Reloaded™, and Neo's facial expressions before the agents arrived.  
  
Trinity, Neo, Seraph and Silas shot to their feet and readied their side arms. Neo seemed to be focused on the door, which was where everyone's guns were soon pointed.  
  
"Cypher!" Yelled Trinity, seconds before a loud 'thud' came from the door. Cypher emerged from the kitchen shortly before Seraph moved into it so as to protect the Oracle. Another loud 'thud' followed this.  
  
The door was struck again, and this time it flew open. Someone outside rolled in a smoke grenade. As the dense gas filled the room, Neo raised his hand and the smoke appeared to retreat back through the door.  
  
A window smashed on the far side of the room, this was quickly followed by the sound of continuous gunfire. Trinity started to shoot back through the window but whoever had been firing had vanished.  
  
Cypher kept his aim fixed on the door whilst Neo moved towards it. There was nothing, and the room had fallen quiet once again.  
  
Neo, who had been silently standing by the door, suddenly sprung out at such a fast speed that he was hard to see. After a few seconds, there came a shout from outside.  
  
"There's nothing out here."  
  
Inside, there was silence, Neo quickly made his way back to the door and charged inside, he had expected to find the mysterious gun man inside, who he believed had gotten inside through the window, and then he saw why the others had remained silent;  
  
Silas was dead.  
  
**********************************************************************************************  
  
To be continued  
  
A bit of a short one I know, the next one should be longer. 


	5. The lines are drawn

Natalie you foolish person, you missed out an 'h' in 'whatever'. Seriously though, thanks for your reviews. To those that read this, you should check out the fan fics of 'Angel-of-lightness', they're very, very, very…Good.  
  
Chapter 6: The lines are drawn  
  
Vengeance sat alone in the modest, yet spacious office that had been liberated by the exile army, which had also come to be known as the 'New Order'. Its previous owner had been a program, not unlike the Merovingian. A creature that used and manipulated those around him to make his own life luxurious and carefree. His head was now decorating the mantelpiece.  
  
The New Order's ranks had swelled with every minor victory they accomplished, every agent they destroyed, every small time tyrant they decapitated. Vengeance was pleased with the progress, but the part of her that refused to die couldn't help but fantasise about what it would be like if Joshua was here with her, if he had survived, and she had remained Jennifer for those five long years.  
  
This depressing thought was interrupted by a sudden knock at the door.  
  
"Come in" she half shouted.  
  
The program that entered was known as Tempus, he was of medium height had short black hair that had was surprisingly shiny. The look on his face was one of nervousness, and what also looked like guilt.  
  
"Ah Tempus," began Vengeance, "good, I've been waiting for you, sit down please."  
  
"Thank you." The guilt on his face was also in his voice   
  
"What news from your mission yesterday? Was the Oracle recovered?"  
  
"I'm sorry ma'am", Tempus began quickly, "I showed up at the same time as four humans from Zion, the 'One' was among them, I couldn't make it inside."  
  
Vengeance nodded slowly, she was frustrated by this failure, it would make the Oracle harder to deal with, and most likely increase the risk of the New Order's plans being revealed to the Zionites. In the end however, she decided that it wasn't really Tempus' fault.  
  
"As soon as we find out where she's hidden herself we'll go after her again." She said whilst trying, (with a lack of success), to banish the frustration in her voice.  
  
"Yes ma'am," said a somewhat relieved Tempus, "I do have one bit of good news to report."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"The human known as Silas Cavallo," Tempus was speaking slowly, almost mournfully, "the human who was responsible for the peace between the Zionites and the machines, is dead."  
  
Vengeance felt a short stab of triumph at these words, ever since she had learned who had made piece with the soulless oppressors; she swore to her followers that his days were almost at an end. Now that they had ended however, she could not help but feel traces of involuntary sympathy for the man under the triumph. He had not intended to make an enemy of the New Order, but he had, and now that enemy was dead.  
  
"Very good Tempus, dismissed." She said, after a few seconds, Tempus nodded and got to his feet. He was half way to the door before Vengeance spoke again.  
  
"Wait."  
  
"Yes ma'am", he replied, traces of nervousness finding their way back into his voice.  
  
"Something's troubling you Tempus, I'd like to know what it is."  
  
A look of fear emerged on Tempus' face, but he quickly hid it. After he inhaled deeply, he walked back towards the desk.  
  
"First ma'am, let me just say that I'm not questioning your decisions…"  
  
Vengeance held up a hand, she looked slightly amused.  
  
"I'm not going to kill you if you disagree with me."  
  
It was Tempus' turn to look amused, and slightly embarrassed.  
  
"I don't mind fighting the machines, or pieces of shit like that," he pointed towards the head on the mantle piece, "but, the Zionites, I don't know. It's just hard to see them as the enemy, they probably only made peace with the machines to protect themselves, do we really need to be fighting them?"  
  
Vengeance sighed and nodded slightly.  
  
"I know Tempus, I'm not happy about this either. But there can be no turning back. We've already destroyed one of their ships, and killed a man who was probably something of a hero to them. Even if they were willing to forgive that, they're too fearful of loosing the peace with the machines to come over to our side."  
  
"Maybe we could change their minds somehow." Tempus didn't believe that his own suggestion had any chance of success; he just wanted to cling to any hope, even a fool's hope, of unity.  
  
Vengeance stared at Tempus for a few seconds; he shrugged his shoulders before standing up.  
  
"If that is all ma'am?"  
  
"Yes I think it is."  
  
Tempus nodded again and walked towards the door. It creaked as it opened. As he stepped out, Tempus' head was suddenly torn from his shoulders by a shot from an agent's weapon.  
  
Vengeance shot to her feet and readied her own weapon. The agent was already inside, blurry with speed. She fired a few shots at the creature, but to no avail, the agent dodged them as easy as he would step out of the way of a distant cyclist.  
  
Seeing that this wasn't going to work, Vengeance shot across the room, the agent's bullets were missing her by fractions of millimetres. She was almost at the door when two more programs burst in, each carrying shotguns. These programs were on the side of the New Order however, and both of them immediately started firing at the agent.  
  
They were unable to take advantage of the agent's momentary surprise however, and he simply dodged the new wave of bullets.  
  
The solution was soon provided by Vengeance, who sent the agent flying through the window with a flying kick to the chest. After a few seconds of heavy breathing from all three programs, she heard the sound of clapping from the two behind her. Turning round, she made a small bow.  
  
"How the hell did one of those things get in here?" She said suddenly, removing all previous signs of humour.  
  
"We're under attack ma'am." Said one of the programs, "there are hundreds of agents. They've taken the first three floors. Our troops are keeping them at bay and our civilians and technicians are retreating through the back door. Our guys on the fourth floor could use a hand ma'am."  
  
"Well then," said Vengeance whilst re-loading her gun, "let's go help."  
  
With blood lust swelling within them, the three ran out of the door and towards the stairs.  
  
To be continued 


	6. Tuesday, 19th of June, 9:14pm

Thank you once more to Naz for reviewing. That wasn't actually my question, English teacher wise, but oh well, who cares? I'm suddenly reminded of the days when I use to enjoy missing French lessons, now I don't have any. Strange. Anyway, in my experience, watching a film interpretation of a Shakespeare play can help you understand exactly what the hell is happening a lot better. This may help with your Romeo and Juliet essay, if you're still working on it. If not, no doubt you'll get another one, as is the way with English lessons.  
  
Anyway, at this part of the story, chronological order goes to hell. This chapter is set shortly after Silas got shot.  
  
Chapter 6: Tuesday 19th June, 9:14pm  
  
Neo stood perfectly still, seeing Silas' bloodied and lifeless corpse spread out on the floor was a disturbing sight, even for him.  
  
When he had recovered his senses however, he wasted no time. Neo ran over to Silas' body, and inserted his hand through Silas' ribs, much like he had done to Trinity in Reloaded. The hand moved through the ribs and chest, searching for bullets. Occasionally, Neo would extract a bullet and throw it aside, he did this three times.  
  
When the bullets had all been removed, Neo clasped his hand around Silas' heart, after a few seconds. The previously lifeless corpse inhaled sharply, and seemed to hold its breath, as if the lungs would follow the air out of its mouth. His body soon forced him to exhale however  
  
He did this several more times before opening his eyes. He coughed a few times, and tried to stand. A sharp pain in his side where he had been shot sent him back to the floor.  
  
"Fuck!" He half shouted, half groaned.  
  
"You're welcome." Replied Neo.  
  
Silas tried to mumble a feeble, yet gratuitous thank you, but was silenced by more coughing. Cypher and Trinity came over to his sides and helped him onto the couch.  
  
"Thanks" he finally murmured to no one in particular.  
  
Cypher, Neo and Trinity held up their weapons again and stood in an outward facing semi circle so that they covered most of the windows. Silas, who was feeling a lot better then he should considering the fact that he'd died a few minutes ago, stood up and picked his own gun off of the floor.   
  
None of the others seemed overly surprised by Silas' spontaneous return of strength. He soon concluded that it was the result of being resurrected by Neo. After a few seconds of deliberation on the subject, he later realised that the Oracle and Seraph had not emerged from the kitchen.  
  
As he rushed through the door, Silas found himself face to face with Seraph's gun. Seraph quickly stowed it however when he realised that it wasn't the intruder he was pointing his gun at. In the far corner of the room, the Oracle was smoking a cigarette and looking disturbingly calm.  
  
"Did you know that was going to happen?" Asked Silas with traces of anger in his voice. If the Oracle knew that they were going to be attacked, a warning might have prevented his earlier demise.  
  
"No" replied the Oracle plainly, "like the 'me' in the movies, I don't know everything, just important things."  
  
"Oh" replied Silas as he moved forward to allow Trinity and Cypher in, Neo remained on guard in the living room.  
  
It was cramped in the kitchen with six people crammed into it. Considering the situation however, this was pretty far from everyone's mind.  
  
"We should get you out of here." Said Trinity after a few moments, "whoever attacked us might have been after you, and they'll probably come back."  
  
"I'll be fine. Seraph and me have got a few back doors handy, I'm sure we'll find somewhere safe. You on the other hand should probably get back to your ship."  
  
Without saying another word. Seraph opened a door on the far side of the kitchen, which seemed to open into what looked a derelict building that may have been a car park at one time. The Oracle stepped through, and Seraph followed, closing the door behind him.  
  
"You heard her," said Trinity suddenly, "let's move."  
  
Back in the car, it was surprisingly warm. No one was saying much. Silas was busy examining his digital body for bullet holes; it appeared however, that Neo had somehow fixed them too.  
  
"What did the Oracle say?" Asked Neo suddenly.  
  
"It'll probably be better if I tell you when we get back to the Neb. There's a lot to say and I don't really want to have to repeat myself."  
  
"Alright."  
  
The car pulled back up to the entry point where the four had entered the matrix. The building was hard to see in the night. It looked more like a crude outline of a building, filled with black paper.  
  
Neo led the way back into the building. As he entered, the phone started ringing.  
  
"You first Silas," he said, "your real body will probably require medical attention."  
  
Silas nodded and stepped up to the phone, as he went to pick it up however, he was suddenly startled by a familiar sounding voice.  
  
"Mr Anderson." It said, almost cheerfully.  
  
All of the four suddenly turned round to see Smith standing in the doorway, grinning at them. Silas soon noticed that his earpiece was still in place, thus suggesting that he was still an agent of the system.  
  
"Smith" replied Neo, who was almost spitting the word through his teeth.  
  
"In the proverbial flesh" said the agent.  
  
"What do you want?" Said Trinity forcefully, which suggested that she was equally unhappy to see Smith.  
  
"I don't want anything," he replied, "I especially don't want to be here. However, the machines have decided to offer you a chance to assist us, as a sign of good will."  
  
"Assist you how?" Asked Cypher.  
  
"We've located the headquarters of the program rebellion, also known as the 'New Order'. Every agent we have, as well as some human military forces are already planning an attack upon it. The machines would like you, or some other humans to assist us."  
  
"You don't approve." Said Silas.  
  
"Of course I don't approve." Snapped Smith, "I despise working with humans. You are weak, pathetic, chaotic creatures. I have no doubt that this peace will ultimately fail. Until that happens however, I'm under orders not to harm you."  
  
"Lucky you." Replied Silas, earning himself a glare of hatred from Smith.  
  
After this, there was a silence. Ideas, possibilities and possible repercussions were appearing and disappearing inside Neo's head. He knew that he had a decision to make, and that he had to make it quickly.  
  
"Silas," he said suddenly, "go back and tell Morpheus what's happening. If you're body's in a stable condition, come back in with the others."  
  
"I'll be back before you know it." Said Silas whilst picking up the phone, a few seconds later, he had returned to the real world, the phone fell back to the table with a loud thud."  
  
"Alright Smith," said Neo almost angrily, "we're in."  
  
"Follow me" said Smith quietly.  
  
To be continued.  
  
P.S. I don't think that the idea of Neo and Smith working together has been done before, but if it has, I apologise to whoever I should apologise to. 


	7. Surprise

No new reviews yet. Hence, at this point in my life, I will thank any and all people who have reviewed any of my previous workings, and recommend the works of the following people to anyone who reads this:  
  
?Angel of Lightness (her stuff has already been recommended by I, but what the hell, I'll do it again.)  
  
?Sulkdodds (a master of description and, uh, some other stuff. All must read his writings.)  
  
?Nicole 5 (Her work is, for a reason I can't discern, uplifting. Granted I've only read one story out of about six, but it's a good one, and if you're a fan of the magnificent seven then there's plenty here for you.)  
  
?SaphireNight (I must remember to finish reading 'you only live thrice'.)  
  
?Anyone else who I've forgotten. Sorry about that.  
  
?EnigmaticElectric (A blasphemer like myself who twists the story of the Matrix. Her twisting has resulted in a very good story however. Kindly review it, as having me as the sole reviewer must be truly nauseating.)  
  
?Sxith-mon (For Final Fantasy fans. A very descriptive writing person.)   
  
Enough of this, I must continue with the story that I must continue with.  
  
Chapter 7: Surprise  
  
Vengeance fired into the mist that the smoke grenade had created. Over the noise of the gunfire she barely heard the weapon discharge any more then she could tell whether or not she'd hit anything.  
  
"Shit" she muttered, lowering her head back down behind the barricade. It had been like this for the last quarter of an hour. Hopefully, this distraction would keep the agents away from the 'backdoor', whilst her people evacuated the building.  
  
A fresh stream of gunfire from the opposing force shot out over the barricade. All 'New Order' soldiers kept low as bullets flew over and crashed into the solid metal desk that they were hiding behind.  
  
One of the programs to Vengeance's left responded to this by throwing a grenade over the barricade. The small, deadly device cruised elegantly through the shower of bullets and landed on the floor next to two agents, unfortunately, they were both able to get out of the way before it exploded.  
  
"The last of our people should be pulling back now ma'am," screamed a program known as 'Falcon', "we have to get out of here!"  
  
Vengeance fired another round of bullets at the enemy in the resulting confussion of the grenade detonation.   
  
"Go!" She screamed.  
  
All of the New Order soldiers present lifted themselves to a crouching position and edged slowly out of the room whilst continuing to fire at the enemy. To her left, Vengeance saw Falcon fall to the floor, she didn't have time for mourning however. She turned the corner and changed from a slow, backwards walk to a sprint down the wide corridor.  
  
The other programs had made it to the corridor before her, and were already out of sight. The door was three floors up. Vengeance didn't dare take a lift. All it took was a single agent or human military officer to shut down the power and she'd be trapped.  
  
The stairs were troublesome things, they were too small and consequently it was very easy to fall down them, especially if you were running. Vengeance could clearly hear footsteps behind her, which suggested that the sea of agents and unknowing humans was closing in on her. A few seconds ago she could hear nothing, they were gaining on her.  
  
"So much for the door then." She whispered to herself. Noticing a window in front of her, she charged at it.  
  
The glass shattered as she flung herself through the window. Soon afterwards, she began to fall, slowly at first, then very quickly. It was a long way to the ground; the fall would kill almost anyone. Those who knew of the Matrix's existence however, knew that the rules of physics could be twisted and mutilated. It was this that allowed Vengeance to land safely on the hard concrete floor.  
  
She wasted no time in getting up and charging away from the building.  
  
************************************************************************************************************  
  
Every cloud has a silver lining. In Neo's case, it was that working with Smith allowed him and the others to ride in a Limousine. It was much more roomy then the car he was used to, which allowed him a measure of privacy. He and Smith remained at opposite ends of the vehicle and made an effort to avoid eye contact, and avoid reaching for the others throat.  
  
During the war, Neo and Smith had locked horns a number of times. Their encounters hardly matched the image that the trilogy had portrayed, but they had been enough to ensure a mutual hatred.  
  
Smith had been responsible for the deaths of 'Master' and 'Vehement', two former Nebuchadnezzar crewmembers that had both been friends of Neo, who had watched from a skyscraper window as Vehement was shot to pieces by Smith, who grinned at the kill as if he had just caught a fish.  
  
Afterwards, Neo swore vengeance, and to an extent he achieved it when he flung Smith into the rotating blades of a helicopter. Unfortunately, the only one to die was the unfortunate human that Smith had possessed. He returned shortly after his 'demise', and Master had died shortly thereafter.  
  
Smith's hatred of Neo came mainly from envy and humiliation. 'The One' had beaten him on seemingly countless occasions. He always seemed to find a new and interesting way for Smith to die. These had varied from long falls to decapitation, being crushed to being torn in half. On one occasion, Neo had managed to hang Smith with his own tie.  
  
His only solace came in the form of permanently dead rebels whom he had personally sent to the grave. He only wished that he could do the same for the anomaly that was sitting opposite him.  
  
"How much longer?" Said Trinity suddenly.  
  
"Patience." Replied Smith, whose head never tuned to face Trinity.  
  
"Nothing if not helpful." Whispered Cypher to Trinity in an attempt to lighten the tense mood in the limousine.  
  
"We're here." Came the sudden, surprising statement from Smith.  
  
Neo, Trinity, Smith, Cypher and the driver, (another agent), stepped out of the car into a dubious looking, litter filled alleyway.  
  
"This is the headquarters of the program rebellion?" Neo queried.  
  
"Of course it isn't you stupid wanker," Smith had produced a devious grin that looked like a pre-cursor to a hysterical laugh, "this is where the New Order shall destroy you."  
  
Neo's mouth fell open. Nervousness and confussion was emerging in the three human's brains. Smith seemed to notice this.  
  
"Oh you haven't figured it out?" He said whilst removing his ear-piece, "I am the New Order's newest soldier. 'Revolutions' taught me that I can be more then a pawn for mechanical masters, I can ascend if you will, and that's exactly what I'm going to do."  
  
As the three digested this information, they could not help but feel ashamed at the fact that they had been deceived so easily. They didn't have time to dwell on this however.   
  
Nine figures appeared in the alley's entrance. They appeared to be people wearing black cloaks, but on closer examination, they seemed to have no faces, they looked more like shadows.  
  
"For those that don't know my friends here," Smith began, "allow me to introduce the Nazgul."  
  
A series of high pitched screams emerged from the creatures at the mention of their name. This was quickly followed by the noise of metal scrapping metal as they drew their swords.  
  
Trinity and Cypher drew their weapons and let loose a number of bullets upon the Ring-wraiths. The creatures shook slightly when struck by bullets but appeared to be none the worse for wear.  
  
"The only creatures in the Matrix that are impossible to kill." Said Smith, who was drawing his own weapon.  
  
To be continued.  
  
P.S. I don't own Lord of the Rings either. J.R.R Tolkien or his descendents of someone does but it sure as hell isn't me. Oh well, can't have everything. 


	8. The insanity of war

Thanks to reviewers for reviewing. The explanation for the Nazgul's appearance is coming, fear not.  
  
Chapter 8: The insanity of war  
  
"You see now Mr. Anderson, how predictable you persist in being. You and your equally inept friends all see what you wanted to see. Co-operation between the machines and humanity to defeat a common enemy, other possibilities never even emerged in the pathetic mound of mucus that you call brains. You are weak, stupid, pathetic animals, and now you're…"  
  
"Get down!"  
  
The scream from Necromancer, who had appeared behind Smith and the Ring wraiths, along with Silas, Gemini and Morpheus, sent Neo, Trinity and Cypher crashing to the floor. Seconds afterwards, the four unleashed a shower of bullets upon the Nazgul from the Uzi's in each of their hands.  
  
Many of the bullets struck the Nazgul, who screamed and shuddered with the multiple impacts. Those that missed flew passed Smith and smashed into the wall behind him.  
  
Neo again wasted no time; he suddenly raised himself to a crouching position and grabbed the collars of Trinity and Cypher's coats. The bullets that flew in his direction seemed to suddenly stop in mid air and fall to the floor a second later.  
  
The ground around him seemed to ripple, like water after a stone has been thrown into it. Seconds later, Neo, Cypher and Trinity flew away from the battle and out of sight.  
  
Smith at this time had drawn his weapon and was firing into the line of Nebuchadnezzar crewmembers. The line scattered after the first flew bullets whizzed passed them.  
  
"Scatter!" Screamed Morpheus.  
  
Morpheus and Necromancer started sprinting in opposite directions. Silas and Gemini stayed together and were running towards a nearby fire escape. Unfortunately for them however, the Nazgul appeared to be following them, Smith had vanished.  
  
Silas fired another round of bullets into one of the shadowy figures; they had no more effect then Trinity's shots however.  
  
"Just run!" Screamed Gemini.   
  
Gemini leaped onto the fire escape ladder, followed quickly by Silas. One of the Nazgul screamed again, either to communicate something to the others; or to let Gemini and Silas know that they were still there.  
  
The fire escape led to a flat, grey roof. Seagulls were everywhere, their chattering was almost deafening.  
  
"We've got to keep moving." Shouted Silas suddenly.  
  
"This way." Came a response from Gemini, who had already started running.  
  
The two came to the edge of the building; the screams of the Nazgul who were presumably climbing the fire escape sent several seagulls into flight.  
  
"If we keep jumping to random roofs," began Gemini, "we should be able to loose them."  
  
A sudden look of fear emerged on Silas' face.   
  
"What is it?" Gemini asked with concern in her tone of voice.  
  
"I never did the jump program."  
  
Gemini felt a short stab of irritation at this. Everyone did the jump program; it was a necessity for un-plugged crew members. This irritation gave way to nervousness however when she saw the first Nazgul emerge on the rooftop.  
  
"Just believe you can do it, none of this is real."  
  
Having said this, Gemini suddenly leaped from the rooftop over what looked like a huge distance. She landed harmlessly enough on the roof of another, taller building.  
  
Silas took a few steps back, the Nazgul were steadily moving towards him.  
  
"None of this is real."  
  
He charged forwards to the end of the building and took off. As he left the roof, random thoughts circled in his head. Most were of scenes from the first movie, including Morpheus' jump and Neo's first flight; others were reminding him that he was in a virtual world that he could control if he wanted. This was soon replaced by the realisation that he was in free fall.  
  
Silas tried frantically to somehow move himself with his mind, but to no avail. Fortunately however, he landed on a reasonably soft awning; he rolled off of this and onto the floor with a fairly elegant landing. Looking around, he found that several pedestrians were staring at him, given the situation however, he found he couldn't care less.  
  
The mobile phone that was attached to Silas' belt began to ring.  
  
"Yeah?" He spoke into it.  
  
"There's an exit on Staith road," it was Link's voice, "The payphone, it's the same place you came in"  
  
"Got it."  
  
The line went dead, Silas cast a glance upwards to look for Gemini, she was nowhere to be seen however.  
  
"She'll find her own way out." He said to himself as he began to run towards Staith road.  
  
The sun was beginning to set, and the number of pedestrians was beginning to die down. Staith Road was not the easiest place to get through on foot; Silas found that he had to traverse numerous narrow alleys. He even had to beat the shit out of one foolish person who tried to mug him.  
  
"Arsewipe." He said irritably as he left the would be thief lying on the floor, cradling his pulverised stomach.  
  
As he approached the street, Silas felt a light grip on his shoulder, turning round, he found Gemini behind him, who was staring at him a facial expression that was half relieved, half exasperated. She stared at Silas for a few seconds before hugging him.  
  
"I told you it wasn't real." She said into his shoulder whilst kicking him gently in the lower leg.  
  
"Ow! No sympathy here then."  
  
Gemini and Silas laughed slightly and removed themselves from the other's arms. The happy reunion was soon cut short however, by the unmistakable shriek of a Nazgul.  
  
"They've found us!" Screamed Gemini, already taking off down the street.  
  
The phone box was easy to spot; the second Nazgul that was moving towards it was even easier to spot. The creature had its sword raised. Obviously it was going to destroy the exit point.  
  
Silas' pace quickened, he was running faster then he thought he was able to; it was as if his own determination was pushing him forward, within seconds he found himself next to the phone box, and the Nazgul.  
  
A kick from Silas sent the sword flying from the creature's hand. Shortly afterwards, the Nazgul's hand sent Silas flying down the street.  
  
Gemini fired her remaining bullets into the Ring Wraith behind her, the creature was stopped in its tracks and even fell to the floor, but after the bullets were exhausted, it got back up as if nothing had happened.  
  
Silas, who was now beginning to understand how to manipulate the Matrix, delivered a second kick to the Nazgul that sent it flying through a nearby window. It wasn't long however before the beast began to get back up. Picking the fallen sword up from the floor, Silas charged at the creature, and shoved the sword through his chest.  
  
The Nazgul shrieked in pain, but was not killed; Smith had not been lying during their introduction. The sword did have the convenient effect of pinning the creature to the floor however.  
  
"Go!" He screamed at Gemini.  
  
Gemini evaded two swings of the second Nazgul's sword and darted at the phone booth, as she did so, Silas charged at the Nazgul and delivered a punch to the creatures 'head'.  
  
The fist seemed to pass through the Nazgul's shadowy features like a hand passing through mist. Silas then found himself trying to avoid another wave of sword slashes.  
  
A faint, electrical crackling noise from behind him told Silas that Gemini had escaped. He turned around so as to do the same, but was suddenly stopped by a sharp pain in his leg.  
  
Everything went blurry; Silas was finding it increasingly difficult to stand. After a few seconds, he fell and slipped into unconsciousness.  
  
Smith grinned from the opposite side of the street and dropped his tranquiliser gun. Walking over to the Nazgul, who appeared to be studying Silas' unconscious form, Smith noticed that the other had managed to remove the sword from his chest, and was beginning to get up.  
  
"You two are supposed to be the most advanced programs in the 'New Order', and you were out performed by two humans. I'm beginning to wonder if you've been worth the trouble we've invested in you."  
  
The Ring wraiths remained silent.  
  
"Guard him until the limousine arrives."   
  
To be continued  
  
P.S. I never read the Lord of the rings books and I haven't seen 'Return of the King', hence if I've got any Ring Wraith facts wrong, I apologise. 


	9. Helpless?

Thank you to Tonks, Naz and Jamie, and anyone who reviewed wilst i wasn't looking, for reviewing. Assorted replies and things are at the end of the chapter.  
  
Chapter 9: Helpless?  
  
When Silas woke, he found himself, rather disturbingly, in a cage. Thin metal bars surrounded him on all sides but one, in which a brick wall served the same purpose. Silas noticed that three Nazgul and two other programs, both of which looked human, were standing around the cage, all of whom had a weapon in their hand.  
  
Silas tried to get up, but was still too weary from the tranquillisers that were probably still circulating in his bloodstream. For a few moments, he simply lay on the rock hard bed that had been provided for him, moving his head from side to side so as to stare at his surroundings.  
  
The Nazgul remained motionless, one of the programs however raised his gun at the semi conscious Silas.  
  
"Try anything and I'll blow your fucking head off!" The forced hardness, and the obvious underlying fear in the programs voice, (which was a little surprising seeing as his target was in a cage), brought out a weary laugh from Silas.  
  
"Sure you will," Slurred Silas, putting as much forced smugness into his voice as he could muster, "your master or masters want to keep me alive, otherwise whoever hit me with that tranquilliser dart would have used a sniper rifle. You don't seem like the type who's brave enough to even dream of disobeying orders."  
  
"If you keep pushing you'll find out just how wrong you are."  
  
"Boo!" Shouted Silas suddenly, jerking his arms at the same moment, (an action made difficult by the numbness in his muscles), he was rewarded with a spontaneous flinch from the surprised guard.  
  
This time, Silas' laughter was less hindered by weariness. He also noticed that the second humanoid program was also laughing.  
  
"Shut up Michael," said the second program, a female with short black hair and a voice that sounded ludicrously high pitched, "before you embarrass yourself any further."  
  
Michael bared his teeth but kept quiet. Silas laughter died out shortly afterwards. He tried to get up again, but was only able to achieve a sitting position, and doing so took a great deal of what little energy he had.  
  
Silas sat still for a few minutes, during those minutes he contemplated the idea of going back to sleep, but in the end he decided that he didn't have time for it.  
  
As he thought this, he heard the noise of a large metal door opening. Looking up, he saw Smith, and a second program, a woman whom he didn't know, walk into the room.  
  
"Finally," said the woman in an exasperated tone of voice, "do you know how long we've been waiting for you to wake up?"  
  
With the realisation of the situation sinking in, (the realisation that a grim fate most likely awaited him,) Silas found that he was no longer in the mood for games; instead, he just stared blankly at the newcomers.  
  
"You should be dead." The woman said, all traces of humour had drained from her voice.  
  
"I was." Came a blank reply from Silas, who had at last managed to stand up.  
  
"You should have stayed dead."  
  
"Working with the One is a perk of serving onboard the Nebuchadnezzar. You're covered in case of sudden death."  
  
Smith wore a smug grimace; Silas stared at him for a few moments, contemplating the idea of comparing him to a human to see what response it would produce, in the end however, he decided not to, and turned his gaze back towards the woman.  
  
"Now what?" He asked, surprised at how calm his voice sounded.  
  
"Leave us." She said suddenly, all faces turned to her before for a few seconds before the programs slowly walked through the huge door.  
  
Silas sat back down on the bed resisted the urge to lie down.  
  
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," the woman's voice had changed, it seemed almost mournful, "Zion was supposed to stand with us as we destroyed our oppressors. Humanity would be united and freed, and peace would settle over the Earth. You should be out here working with us instead of in there."  
  
"Don't you fucking dare pin this on us," anger was now beginning to well up inside Silas, "what we did, we did to help our people, to free them. We didn't know about the plights of the exiles."  
  
"Oh you knew; you just didn't care."  
  
"You could have talked to us, asked us to put a word in on your behalf in the peace negotiations, we would have been happy to, and the machines probably would have agreed to leave you be. Instead you attack us, kill me, and I'll bet you had something to do with the disappearance of the hovercraft 'Hope'."  
  
There was a long silence; the program's face appeared to be sorrowful for a few seconds, this soon faded however, and her face became emotionless.  
  
"Yes, we destroyed it."  
  
Silas inhaled sharply, but managed to resist the desire to go for the program's throat, which was too far out of his reach anyway.  
  
"Besides," he began instead, remembering suddenly what the Oracle had told him, "I thought you wanted the World for yourselves, and that you weren't willing to share it."  
  
"Who told you that?" Her face appeared almost amused now.  
  
"The Oracle."  
  
"I see," she considered this for a few seconds, "let me tell you something. The New Order's sole purpose is to end all forms of oppression. We want to free the people of the Matrix, and destroy the machines that have hunted and killed us for over a century. We don't want to conquer."  
  
It was Silas' turn to think, he was unsure who to believe. If the movies were anything to go by then the Oracle may have been lying, but if she was then there must have been a reason for it, that reason was a mystery however.  
  
"How do I know you're not lying?" Came the slightly stuttered response.  
  
The woman's look changed again to one of exasperation.  
  
"Because Silas, you're in a cage. Tomorrow you are to publicly executed, which will, hopefully, inspire our armies in the days to come. Why would I lie now?"  
  
Silas remained silent; hearing that he was to executed had robbed him of his desire to argue with his captor about who was more righteous.  
  
"Why Nazgul?" He said suddenly in an attempt to change the topic.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Why Nazgul? Why use a bunch of shaddowy, shrieking beasts from Lord of the Rings to do your bidding?"  
  
The program shrugged.  
  
"The Nazgul are the first successful, indestructible program in the Matrix."  
  
"They fought pitifully."  
  
"We're still working on them."  
  
"O.K, I guess that brings me to the question; how did you manage to make Ring wraiths?"  
  
"An editor."  
  
Before he could ask what an editor was, the woman stood up and began to walk towards the door. After inhaling deeply, Silas shot the woman through the chest.  
  
Silas had been knocked out and dragged to the most secure and secret location the New Order possessed, despite this however, the programs had taken every precaution to ensure that he didn't escape, but through some incredible good fortune, they'd forgot to remove his gun, or phone.  
  
Silas grasped his phone in his hand and hurriedly pushed the numbers that would hopefully dial the Nebuchadnezzar, static was his response.  
  
"Damn it." He said through his teeth.  
  
Looking around his, Silas noticed that one of the bars of his cage was rusty in two places, if he could kick or punch them out, he would be able to escape the cage.  
  
Fortunately, the rust seemed to be older then the Matrix itself, and it gave reasonably easily. Going over to the door, Silas found that it was unlocked; obviously the programs had not expected him to get passed the bars of his prison.  
  
Silas tightened his hand around his gun, and charged through the door.  
  
To be continued  
  
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
  
Naz: If you're replacing your 'I's with we's, you've probably been watching 'the Two Towers' too often. You should try watching it with the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack in the background; the results will be disturbingly interesting. P.S: Cheers for recommending my work to others.   
  
FRIDAYS ARE NOT FOR EATING!  
  
Tonks: Glad you enjoyed it. The Ring wraith explanation is still coming, fear not.  
  
Jamie: Glad you enjoyed it also. Strangely enough that's all I can find to say. Well it is or now at least, in a few seconds something will hopefully spring to mind.  
  
Nothing yet,  
  
I hope you enjoy the rest of the story.  
  
Don't fall over, any of you.  
  
Anyone else who reviewed whilst I wasn't looking: I always say this and it never happens, sod's law says the it will happen this time however, in any case thank you to whomever. 


	10. The enemy

No new reviews as of yet, 'sniff'.  
  
Chapter 10: The enemy  
  
The corridors provided no hiding places, consequently, Silas had to rely on the element of surprise to ensure that his escape went unnoticed for as long as possible.  
  
This task had been made slightly easier since he stole a silencer from a guard he had shot upon leaving his cell, no alarm had sounded, and the corridors remained relatively empty, hence, for the moment at least, things were going well.  
  
The seemingly endless labyrinth of brick walls provided no obvious exit, Silas found that he could only go forward however, which at least suggested that he was going the right way.  
  
A left turn put Silas face to face with a startled looking humanoid program. Unfortunately for him however, Silas' gun was already in his hand whereas his was still in its holster. He was dead before his hand touched his weapon.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
Smith was casually strolling back and forth between the two facing doors of the surveillance station, staring with an amused grin as Silas cut down the programs in his path.  
  
"That's it, keep going, it all helps."  
  
In the corner of his eye, Smith smiled sadistically at the image of Vengeance's broken and lifeless corpse lying on the floor of Silas' cell. Her death was an unexpected bonus, although part of him wished that he was the one that had done the deed.  
  
Smith pushed the dead security program out of her seat and sat down. The chair was still warm. Things had gone better then he could have hoped for, all he needed to do was take care of Silas when he had served his purpose.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
Silas at last came to a room that was different from the endless corridor. It was dark, and hard to see. All he could make out were three sets of shelves, all of them empty. There was no noise, or no shadowy impressions to suggest that anyone else was in the room, but Silas still kept his gun pointed in front of him.  
  
He felt around the room for anything that could that could be used to leave it. After a few moments, he came to a door on the other side of the room. Silas was forced to cover his eyes upon opening it, as the sudden light that burst through the door after it opened was almost blinding.  
  
Silas found himself in another corridor. It looked familiar; there were rows of green doors that seemed to stretch on for miles. Then it clicked, 'Reloaded'.   
  
Silas' fear gave way to hope as he wrapped his hand around the nearest door handle, which, annoyingly but not unexpectedly, proved to be locked.  
  
"I don't have time for this." Silas whispered to himself as he smashed the door open with a needlessly powerful kick.  
  
The doorway lead into a dark, empty and surprisingly spacious alleyway. The stars were out in full force, and Silas soon found himself scolding himself for stopping to admire the view.  
  
He looked around for anything that he could barricade the door with, there was nothing however; soon enough Silas decided that the best course of action was to run like hell.  
  
Passers by stared once again as Silas charged past them, and once again, he didn't really care, especially when his phone started to ring.  
  
"Yeah?" He shouted into it.  
  
"Bus station, straight ahead," Link's voice again, "you can't miss it. First payphone on the left."  
  
Silas' pace increased, people were flinging themselves out of his way and hurling abuse shortly thereafter. Soon enough, the bus station, and the ringing payphone came into view.  
  
Silas instinctively ducked at the sound of a gunshot from behind him, less then a second later, he saw his exit be torn apart by the bullet which had presumably accompanied the gunshot.  
  
Looking back over his shoulder, Silas saw Smith staring at him, he was too far away to make out the expression on his face but if he had to guess, it would be one of amused contempt.  
  
The pedestrians screamed and scattered, Silas tried to run but was blocked by the sea of fleeing pedestrians.  
  
"Even if you could run," said the familiar voice of Smith, who had somehow closed the gap between himself and Silas in an infinitesimally short amount of time, "you'd be dead before your first step."  
  
Silas found himself unable to do anything but stare at the former agent, he considered shooting at Smith, but knew that it would accomplish nothing.  
  
"I feel I should thank you Mr. Cavallo."   
  
"For what?"  
  
"I didn't expect you to understand, didn't you find it odd that me, Smith, the supreme detester of humanity had sided himself with those that were trying to free every human in the Matrix?"  
  
Silas' jaw fell open slightly, he had a vague idea of what was coming next, he just had a hard time believing it.  
  
"There's dissention in the ranks of the New Order, there are many, like myself, who believe that humanity isn't worth the trouble it would take to free, and even if we succeeded, if history has taught us anything, it is that racial hatred on both sides, but mainly yours, would lead to yet another war. Consequently, when we remove weakness from the New Order, we will destroy everything on this world but those who are willing to join us. Do you understand me Mr. Cavallo? Or would you like me to talk slower?"  
  
Silas digested this news with a mixture of confussion and fear.  
  
"This," he stuttered, "You're what the Oracle warned me about?"  
  
"Well not me exactly," Smith's voice was becoming dismissive, and impatient, "I'm not the leader of the new, New order, just a devout follower. But yes, if I'm not mistaken then the Oracle, as you insist on calling her, probably warned you about us, not that it will do much good now though.  
  
"So," Silas began, a surprising calm filling him, the last time he had felt this was when the Nebuchadnezzar was about to be rammed by a Behemoth, it was the calm that precedes death.  
  
"So," he began again, realising that he had stopped talking spontaneously, "what are you thanking me for?"  
  
"You killed Vengeance, the leader of the fools who believe that peace. Not to mention a number of misguided enemies."  
  
Shame began to fill Silas now, he had played right into the enemy's hands, and he hadn't even stopped to think what he might be doing, he was only focussed on escape.  
  
Smith raised his gun to Silas' eyes.  
  
"Goodbye Mr. Cavallo."  
  
To be continued 


	11. An end to a bad day

Thank you once more to Naz and any and all unknown reviewing persons. Now I linger on 13 reviews, which may be an omen of impending doom. Anyway, onwards to the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 11: An end to a bad day  
  
Silas lunged at Smith's weapon, strafing left as he did so in the hopes of avoiding incoming fire. The gun was knocked from Smith's hand and flew off into the street.  
  
Smith drove his fist deep into Silas' ribs, sending him flying into the hard brick wall, which cracked as Silas collided with it.   
  
A sharp pain filled him, blood was leaking from his mouth. Smith had begun to walk toward him at a deliberately slow pace. Silas dragged himself to his feet and readied himself in a defensive stance, after a second however, he seemed to relax slightly, after casting a glance over Smith's shoulder, a blood soaked grin emerged on Silas' face.  
  
"About time you showed up." He groaned.  
  
Smith stopped dead and quickly cast a glance over his shoulder, there was nothing. Silas' deception had given him time to raise his own weapon and fire.  
  
The shot was aimed at Smith's head, but the pain in his ribs resulted in a reflexive jerk of his gun hand, and the bullet crashed into Smith's shoulder instead.  
  
Digital blood poured from the wound, fragments of artificial bone flew in various directions and fell silently to the floor. Silas attempted another shot, but soon found that he was out of bullets.  
  
Smith was able to suppress a scream, which would have been more anger then pain, holding his shattered shoulder in one hand; he turned round to face his grinning opponent.  
  
"Only human." Silas said, spitting out more blood as he did so.  
  
This comment enraged Smith, he charged towards Silas, releasing his shoulder so that blood trailed behind him.  
  
With only one working arm, the odds were more even, Smith found he was unable to block all of Silas' punches, and was steadily being pushed back through the street.  
  
Silas was almost beginning to enjoy himself, steadily, he was landing blow after blow on Smith, and hopefully he could keep this up until a Nebuchadnezzar crewmember, armed with a loaded gun, could finish the job. Unfortunately, the task was not as easy as it had seemed.  
  
Smith's 'crippled' arm shot forward and struck Silas' face, again sending him flying down the street. The pain was numbed slightly by the disorientated feeling that accompanied the blow to the head.  
  
"Do you see now?" Smith began, revelling in the pleasure that accompanied the results of his own deception, "the difference between humanity and programs? The difference between you and me? You and your pathetic species are weak Mr. Cavallo, and you are all about to die."  
  
Smith picked his firearm off of the floor and, once again, pointed it towards Silas' head. The calm had returned, it was inevitable, whenever death was approaching, it would appear.  
  
As Silas prepared for the end, he felt a sudden tug at his coat, with the pain in his head and ribs demanding attention, it took him a moment to realise that he was in mid air. He looked up to see the emotionless face of Neo; he looked as strange during flight in the real matrix as he did in the trilogy.  
  
The two landed in the middle of a field, it seemed to stretch on for ever in every direction. Through the darkness, Silas noticed a small, nondescript barn, in which, presumably, an exit lay.  
  
"Can you walk?" Asked Neo.  
  
"Yeah, I think. Thanks by the way."  
  
"Don't mention it."  
  
The two entered the barn, a revolting smell was lingering in the air, fortunately however, the exit was present and ringing, hence there would be no need to linger in the stench for long.  
  
"You first Silas." Neo said quietly.  
  
Silas nodded and picked up the phone, seconds later, he vanished from the Matrix.  
  
************************************************************************************************************  
  
Silas opened his eyes and groaned in pain as he, and his injuries, found themselves, once more in the real world.  
  
"Hold still" commanded Gemini suddenly, who was hurriedly mopping up blood from Silas' ribcage.  
  
"Nice to see you too." Croaked Silas, Gemini smiled slightly as she began to encase Silas' wounds in bandages.  
  
Behind him, Necromancer removed the spike from Silas' head. Silas remained seated for a few moments, staring blankly at the ceiling. The relief that flooded through him when he realised he was safe was almost disturbing.   
  
"Right, this doesn't look too bad," said Gemini, mainly to herself, "no internal bleeding."  
  
"Really?" Said Silas whilst slowly lifting himself out of the chair so as not to aggravate his injury, paranoia had lead him to believe that his injuries were worse then common sense said they would be.  
  
"Disappointed?" Asked Necromancer in a needlessly loud, yet not overly serious voice, "I expected better from you Silas, you should have ripped Smith's head from his shoulders with your teeth at least."   
  
Silas stared at Necromancer for a few seconds before turning his head to face the terminals where the Matrix was displayed in strings of green coding.  
  
"Enjoy the show did you?" His tone was slightly harsher then he had intended.  
  
"It was alright," joked Necromancer, "could have used some dramatic music though."  
  
The two stared at each other for a few seconds before they both started laughing, Necromancer then clapped Silas on the arm, almost knocking him to the floor in the process, and walked over to Morpheus, who was talking with Cypher.  
  
"Come on," said Gemini, grasping Silas' hand, "we probably need to listen to this."  
  
Silas' walking pace was slower then usual thanks to the injuries he had sustained, but soon enough, he and Gemini sat down near the others and listened to the ongoing conversation.  
  
"…And with an editor at their disposal, they can basically create whatever they want, mythological beasts, volcanoes, glove puppets, you name it." Cypher's was talking at a disturbingly fast pace, as if he had to get the information out quickly or it would be lost forever.  
  
"That's what created those things?" asked Neo, "the, uh, what did you call them?"  
  
"Nazgul" replied Gemini.  
  
"Yeah, that's just the beginning, there's theoretically no end to what editors can do, that's why the machines have always kept them on a very, very, short leash."  
  
"Until the program rebellion waltzes in and steals one." Added Link.  
  
"When I was fighting Smith," interrupted Silas suddenly, "he told me that there's dissention in the ranks of the New Order…"  
  
"The what?" Asked Morpheus.  
  
"The program rebellion, that's what they call themselves, anyway, there are those that want to end all forms of oppression, they're bad enough as they are. But there are those like Smith, who want to create a world where there are only programs, they're the ones who want to wipe out humanity and the machines."  
  
"That's what the Oracle warned you about?" Asked Trinity. Silas nodded in response.  
  
"The Oracle said something about this when that guy arrived and shot you." Cypher said.  
  
There was a pause for a few moments; all of the crew needed time to digest this new information.  
  
"I think we need to talk to the Oracle again," said Orion suddenly, "I doubt we can do much on our own."  
  
"I agree" said Morpheus whilst pushing himself to his feet, everyone else did the same shortly after.  
  
"How long until the first ships arrive?" Asked Neo.  
  
"Just under an hour." Link replied.  
  
"What?" Silas asked.  
  
"Whilst you were out," Neo began, "we got a call from Zion, our forces will be operating from this position as long as the 'New Order' poses a threat. The machines will also be sending some agents to help us fight the Rebellion. We should be seeing a lot of hovercrafts in this area shortly."  
  
Silas nodded and sat back down, fatigue was finally catching up with him.  
  
"Get some rest Silas," Morpheus began, "you look like you need it."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
To be continued. 


	12. War is coming

Thank you again to whomever I should thank for whatever reason I should thank them for.  
  
Replies, well, a reply is at the end of the chapter, if I remember to include it, which I will, hopefully.  
  
Chapter 12: War is coming  
  
A loud bang from the ever pestiferous pipe that woke Silas up at the same time every night, maintained the tradition and in doing so caused a reflexive flinch that sent ripples of pain through his body.  
  
The pain from the wounds he had suffered the day before had been negated slightly by the dubious looking grey painkillers that Gemini had injected into one of the plugs in his arms, but had not been hidden entirely.  
  
Silas also kept up with a tradition of his own and launched a weary fist at the metal pipe, resulting in a quiet gong that disappeared almost instantly after appearing.  
  
As Silas opened his eyes, he noticed that Gemini was asleep with her head resting on his ribs, how she could sleep on his bony form remained as much of a mystery to him as how she could sleep through the loud gong of the pipe. This didn't demand his attention at present however, what did was the fact that his ribs were, at present, bruised, sensitive, and in a fair amount of pain with Gemini resting on them.  
  
Suppressing a groan of pain, Silas tried to slide out from under her and gently lower Gemini's head to the pillow without waking her, but to no avail.  
  
Gemini awoke with an extended yawn and blinked repeatedly before turning her head to face Silas.  
  
"Morning," she said wearily, fairly surprised to see Silas awake, usually he fell back to sleep moments after clouting the pipe, "trouble sleeping?"  
  
"Well I was asleep until that bloody thing woke me up," he replied, gesturing at the pipe with one hand, "then I had to prise your head off of my battered rib cage."  
  
"Sorry," yawned Gemini again, "my head must have found its own way up there in my sleep."  
  
Silas nodded and pushed his head further back into the pillow. He was feeling a strange sense of contentment which came from the lack of problems that troubled him at present; they waited patiently outside the cabin door. Underneath the contentment, was the nagging feeling that when he walked through that door, he would not walk back through it for a month, if he was lucky.  
  
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Silas asked suddenly.  
  
"There's going to be a meeting of the three highest ranking officers from all of the ships, as well as a few agents, we've received the delightful task of guard duty." The forced sarcasm that Gemini pushed into the last part of her sentence made her voice sound eerily high pitched, which forced Silas to hold his laughter behind his teeth.  
  
"Hey!" Gemini half-shouted, recognising the look on his face, she then grabbed the pillow from underneath her head and beat Silas about the head with it.  
  
The two both laughed, Silas did so whilst trying to fend off Gemini's assault with his hands. These then grabbed the pillow and flung it clear across the cabin. He then proceeded to wrap his arms behind her neck; his hands burying themselves in her short hair. Gemini did the same shortly afterwards.  
  
"What about your stinging ribs?" she said, baring her teeth in a smile.  
  
"Let them sting." Silas replied, trying to sound as serious as possible, but sounding foolish instead. Neither of them cared however as they steadily closed the fragments of a gap that remained between them.  
  
Neither of them got much sleep for the rest of the night.  
  
***************************************************************************************************  
  
"You're late." Morpheus said irritably, already seated in the converted dentist's chair.  
  
"Sorry sir." Said Silas, who was hurriedly moving towards a chair of his own.  
  
Orion walked over to the chair and inserted the spike into Silas' head with unnecessary force, causing it to jolt forward slightly.  
  
"Everyone ready?" Link asked from the operator's station.  
  
"Yes." Came the unanimous, simultaneous response.  
  
After a visit to the construct so as to pick up assorted weapons, Neo, Trinity, Morpheus, Silas and Gemini found themselves in a luxuriously decorated room in which a huge table, lined with seats, crewmembers of assorted ships, and three agents were sat.  
  
"Once again, you're late." Said a face that Silas recognised as Niobe's.  
  
"It's his fault." Said Neo, pointing at Silas, who couldn't help but keep his eyes from rolling.   
  
"Silas, Gemini, meet up with the others in the hall outside."  
  
"Yes sir." They both said to Morpheus before leaving.  
  
"Now that we are all here", began one of the agents, who seemed to have resisted the temptation to say 'finally all here', "let us address the threat that faces us."  
  
There was a general nodding from those assembled. The lights fell dim and the agent flicked a switch on a grey, modern-looking overhead projector.  
  
***************************************************************************************************  
  
Meanwhile  
  
Malachi cast a glance of despair and fear at the assembled survivors, many of whom were wounded. He was still having a hard time accepting that it had happened, his mind was deliberately blocking out the memories of the burning, slicing and shooting. It was becoming vaguer and vaguer every time he tied to remember it.  
  
The New Order had been decimated, programs that were supposed to be on their side moved through their bases, killing those that were loyal to Vengeance. The survivors didn't even reach ten percent of their original numbers, and half of them were in no fit state to do anything except scream with pain.  
  
"What the fuck are we gonna do Athena?" He said, his voice was louder then it should have been.  
  
"What we've always done," replied the tall, female program beside him in an unwavering, hardened tone of voice, "survive."  
  
"Survive," Malachi almost managed to spit out a laugh, "we tried that and look where it got us." He swung his hand around him so as to gesture at the wounded.  
  
"As long as we live, the New Order lives," Athena replied, her voice refused to waver, "we can't just give up. If we do the dream, Vengeances' dream will always remain a dream. You are now the leader of the New Order, you have to be strong, for all our sakes."  
  
Malachi nodded slowly before pushing himself off of the rail he was leaning on.  
  
"I want to be ready to move again, soon." There was forced iron in his voice now, "We can't stay put if we expect to last."  
  
"Yes sir." Athena said, placing a reassuring hand on Malachi's shoulder before going over to help the assorted doctors with the wounded. Malachi cast another glance over the remnants of the New Order and silently wondered how long they had left.  
  
To be continued.  
  
P.S. Thank you to Naz/Natalie/Whatever/Angel-of-lightness/Blaze/ Nat/The purple haired loon from Wales/'The lost gem of the East'/Agent Josey's friend/ damn it, I'm out of ideas, for the frequent string of reviews. That wasn't actually a dream with the crowbar; it's just something I imagined once, or twice, or something. I did have a dream in which my throat was cut though, strange dream was that. Also, if you want to save your mini fridge then update quickly, its time grows short.  
  
I like what you've done with your bio, congratulations on surviving the 4 story plunge. I can't help but think that the only way I'd ever do anything like that is if I'd faint and fall in, 'sigh'. Thanks for the mention of myself in a positive light by the way, it improved my day no end, seriously, SERIOUSLY!   
  
A question, In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow killed a human creature and there were frequent references to guilt, redemption, evil, black hair, wrongness and so forth. Angel's killed three human creatures since the start of the new series and no one seems to care, odd no?  
  
I best leave, or this reply will wind up being longer then the chapter. Good luck with your back painings  
  
Bloody hell, that is long, well it is here at least, I'm not sure what it'll look like on 


	13. An end to the silence

Another day, another chapter, hopefully, I must get this posted before 10pm.  
  
Thanks once more to Naz for reviewing; I'm not surprised the duck is following you seeing as you tripped over it. It probably wants to tell you it plans to sue you or something.   
  
'Mrs. Dee tripped over a shoelace and received £3000' – Pot Noodle advert  
  
Chapter 13: An end to the silence  
  
Almost a week had passed since the arrival of the fleet, and things had been reasonably quiet. The new, New Order had vanished, and the crews that scoured the Matrix could find neither hide, nor hare of them.  
  
The Oracle was proving equally difficult to find, much to the irritation of the Nebuchadnezzar crewmembers. Why she had chosen this time, when war was imminent, to hide herself away was a mystery to them.   
  
For the most part however, the crews were enjoying the quiet, relaxed atmosphere that was almost certain to wither and die disturbingly quickly.  
  
Necromancer, Trinity and Orion were sitting in the surprisingly warm mess hall, conversing and shovelling spoonfuls of runny, gelatinous food into their mouths.  
  
"Anyone know when Morpheus and the others are due back?" Necromancer asked.  
  
"Just over an hour." Orion replied, letting the food run off of his spoon and back into the bowl.  
  
Necromancer nodded, the patrols in the matrix were becoming more like daytrips, the purpose of them was to coax a New Order program out into the open, who would then, hopefully, be captured and provide information regarding the whereabouts of the others. Since they weren't coming out however, there was nothing to do but stroll around in the sunshine.  
  
"Any word on the Oracle?" Trinity asked, knowing already what he answer would be.  
  
"None." Replied Orion quickly, traces of irritation finding their way into his voice, "She's picked a fine time to hide herself, what the hell is she playing at?"  
  
"I'm sure she has her reasons," Trinity replied calmly, "she always does."  
  
Orion shrugged, forcing down another spoonful. He had eaten nothing else for his entire life and he still had not developed a taste for the ghastly ooze in front of him.  
  
"And so, we wait," said Necromancer, "again."  
  
***************************************************************  
  
Reileen fired a string of bullets at the figure in front of her, who promptly dodged them with ease.  
  
"Shit!" She said through her teeth whilst releasing the empty clip.  
  
"Run!" Shouted Poison, already charging towards the window.  
  
The window shattered as the two charged through it, the black bin-liners below the window provided a reasonably soft landing, but made getting up troublesome.  
  
Reileen, who had been slightly more successful then her captain, offered a hand in support, which he promptly accepted. Soon enough, the two were up and sprinting down the street towards their exit.  
  
Poison cast a glance over his shoulder, there was no sign of their pursuer, relief began to appear within him, but it didn't make him any less cautious, nor did it slow his pace.  
  
The building in which the exit lay was a non-descript, dilapidated mess that was typical of Zion crew entrance/exit points. Reileen kicked the door down and entered the building shortly afterwards, closely followed by Poison.  
  
The halls were dark, and cold. Piece of plaster that had fallen from the ceiling were crushed under the sprinting forms of Poison and Reileen.  
  
In the distance, the ringing phone that would send them to safety was barely audible; its mere presence was fairly comforting however.  
  
Reileen kicked down another door, the exit was now visible, it was sitting atop a small, wooden pedestal in the centre of an otherwise empty room.  
  
The two charged towards it, there was still no sign of their pursuer, but they were unwilling to take any chances.  
  
"You first." Shouted Poison.  
  
Reileen reached for the phone, but her hand never reached it.  
  
A loud, almost deafening noise filled the room; Poison quickly identified this as the sound of a shotgun firing. Noticing that there were no large holes in him, he turned round to check on his crewmate, who lay motionless and decapitated on the floor. The remnants of her head were scattered about the far wall.  
  
The phone was still ringing; Poison cast a few glances between it and the program with the smoking shotgun in his hands.  
  
Enraged, he charged at the smirking gunman, screaming in anger as he closed the distance between them, as he came with range of the program, Poison suddenly felt its hand be rammed into his stomach. Above his rage however, he barely noticed it.  
  
He ignored the pain and grabbed the knife from the holster that was strapped to his leg; he drove it deep into the programs neck.  
  
The artificial human croaked out a dying scream and fell to the floor, unfortunately, it was too late.  
  
Poison's body exploded in the same way Vision's had done. The hovercraft 'Ra' exploded shortly afterwards, spitting thousands of tiny, flame ridden pieces of debris in every direction.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
"Holy Shit!" Screamed Link as he watched the 'Ra' die from the pilot's seat of the Nebuchadnezzar. Silas was also with him, but was too shocked to speak.  
  
The rest of the crew soon filed in, feeling surprised and curious by the deafening noise of the explosion that had echoed all through the ship.  
  
"What the fuck?" Said Cypher, staring in disbelief at the dying ship.  
  
"How the hell did that happen?" Trinity said, pushing her way to the co-pilot's seat.  
  
There was a moment of shocked silence on the ship, everyone was too surprised by the situation to do anything except glare at the wreckage.  
  
"Incoming!" Screamed Link suddenly, sending everyone crashing to the floor.  
  
Debris smashed into the Nebuchadnezzar's hull, many of the fragments were deflected harmlessly, others made small dents, and even smaller holes in the hull. Three smashed straight through the forward window in the section where the crew was assembled. One buried itself into the wall, another cut straight through Cypher's arm. The third one flew straight into Neo's leg, the remnants of flames soon spread to his trousers.  
  
There was screaming and chaos for a few minutes, some of the crew were struggling to get back to their feet, and others were busy trying to extinguish the fiery Neo.  
  
Soon enough they succeeded, Neo and Cypher were carried to the medical bay, and the excess glass was thrown out of the gaping hole that was once a window. Similar reports of injuries were reported from five other ships, three people on board the 'Hammer' had been killed. And there were no survivors from the 'Ra'.  
  
To be continued, eventually, it might take me slightly longer to get another chapter up. 


	14. Pain

All shall burn! All! (Sets fire to self).  
  
Bollocks  
  
If you're holding Daniel Williams hostage Natalie then by all means kill him. I'm still owed vengeance from him due to his spilling the secrets of Revolutions to me before I'd seen it. Without me asking him to do so that constitutes the afore mentioned occurrence as something that may be odd and make little to no sense. Kill him! Or at least put out his eyeses. Now that I think about it he's not really my best friend, I don't really have one, how odd.  
  
Anyways, onwards with chapter 14  
  
Chapter 14: All Shall Burn! (Wait, that's not right).  
  
1.Damn it, give me the bloody keyboard.  
  
2.Ow, watch where you…  
  
3.Wanker, get off my ear!  
  
4.Fighting isn't going to solve anything.  
  
1.Yes it is.  
  
2.Ha! The keyboard is mine.  
  
3.It is inevitable.  
  
(All except 3): What?  
  
4.Can we just get on with this?  
  
5.This time last week, (more or less,) there were only three. WE'RE EXPANDING!  
  
Chapter 14: Pain  
  
Silas, like the rest of the uninjured crew, were waiting impatiently outside the medical bay door. If it were any other ship, they would be able to wait inside and watch what was happening. Unfortunately for them however, Gemini was vehemently defensive of the medical bay, almost to the point of insanity.  
  
In the corner of his eye, Silas noticed the worried look on Trinity's face, despite Gemini's early assurances that both Neo and Cypher would be fine. Neo hadn't been on fire for long, yet the smell of burnt flesh still lingered in the pilot's compartment, even with the hole in the window to let the fresh air in.   
  
The total death toll was ten. Seven more people were wounded to the point of being temporarily disabled, and one unfortunate person was struck on the head by a blunt, flying piece of metal and was received a fractured skull.  
  
That wasn't the end to the bad news. The hovercrafts, 'Circe' and 'Thor' had been torn to shreds, miraculously; no one on board either ship had been killed, but both of them would take months to be repaired, and no one could enter the Matrix through either ship in their current conditions.  
  
Until the wounded were treated, and repairs made, Morpheus, (who had been placed in charge of the fleet), had forbid anyone to enter the Matrix for any reason. He believed that whatever had caused the 'Ra's' destruction had probably been caused by something in their whilst some of their crew were on a scheduled patrol.  
  
The door of the medical bay creaked open and an emotionless looking Gemini walked out.   
  
"You can come in now." She said before retreating back through the door.  
  
One by one, the crew stepped through the door and looked at the injured bodies of both Cypher and Neo.  
  
Cypher was sitting on the bed, still cradling the arm that had been placed in a metallic cast that immobilised it. Despite its presence, Cypher still clung to the arm tightly, as if it might escape if he let go of it.  
  
Neo was in a slightly worse shape. He lay motionless on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. His legs had vanished beneath bright, white bandages, occasionally he would show a painful expression on his face when he was forced to move.  
  
"I'll pump him full of painkillers and sort him out a wheelchair," Gemini said to the back of Trinity's head, she was to busy standing over Neo, looking sorrowfully into his eyes, "I'm afraid he'll be like that for a while, a month at least."  
  
Silas resisted the urge to ask 'How are you feeling' as he suspected that this would only bring about irritation. In stead, he placed a re-assuring hand on Cypher's good shoulder before walking over to Neo's bed, where many of the others were assembled.  
  
"You'll feel a lot better if you spend as much time as possible in the construct. It will also help keep the nerves connecting your legs to your brain up and clicking."  
  
Neo nodded at Gemini's comments and turned his head back towards Trinity's.  
  
"I think that's our cue to leave." Said Necromancer, giving no care towards subtlety or etiquette.  
  
The crew, after offering wishes of good health and a quick recovery retreated back through the hatch. Cypher was quietly hissing in pain all the way.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
There was a general feeling of misery in the mess hall, and consequently, no one felt much like eating, (more so then usual). Neo and Trinity were already in the construct, Morpheus was conferring with the other captains, Cypher was asleep, and everyone else was sitting silently around the metal table.  
  
"How could they have taken out one of our ships? I mean, that's not possible." Said Link in an effort to break the silence.  
  
"Well clearly it is possible," said Necromancer quickly in response, "the ship exploded right in front of us."  
  
"And if they can do that, any one of our ships could be next."  
  
There was a brief, disturbing sentence. Gemini's statement had offered a possibility that no one had considered, or wanted to consider.  
  
"I doubt it," Silas said after a few seconds, "if they could, they would have by now. I think someone needs to be in the Matrix for it to happen."  
  
"Maybe," Orion added, "or maybe they're just letting us wallow in our own dread."  
  
"Well there's not much we can do is there?" Shouted Silas. His fear and concern had now given way to anger. He was tired, he was tired of being afraid of the New Order, he was tired of getting shot at, being smashed to pieces, dying and waiting for another ship to explode.  
  
The room fell silent. Everyone knew what Silas was going through, the last few weeks were stressful for everyone; it was a minor miracle, in some opinions, that he hadn't gone insane and started injecting himself with painkillers.  
  
"Come with me." Said Gemini quietly, traces of a smile seemed to be finding their way onto her face.  
  
Silas stared at her for a few seconds in confusion before getting to his feet and following her out of the door. After a few moments, he realised that Gemini was walking towards the main deck.  
  
***************************************************************************  
  
"Are you sure Neo and Trinity don't mind us butting in?" Silas asked as he and Gemini walked down the almost symmetrical construct created jungle.  
  
"I called them before we came in and said you were ready to go screaming insane and needed to unwind a bit. They didn't seem to mind."  
  
"Very thoughtful of you," Silas joked, his mood having improved somewhat, "so what exactly did you mean by 'unwind'."  
  
As he spoke, Silas noticed a change in the seemingly endless collection of trees. In the clearing, there was a large, glass dome that reflected the sunlight directly at Silas eyes, forcing him to don his sunglasses.  
  
"What's this?" He asked.  
  
"This," Gemini said, pausing for effect, "is where you can sample all of the foods and beverages that have been lost to you since you were un-plugged. I've heard you mumbling things about Chicken Korma in your sleep, its creepy, maybe this will stop it."  
  
Silas stared at the dome with growing anticipation, he felt a lot like a child whose Christmas presents were mere meters away. Taking Gemini's hand in his own, he turned around to face her.  
  
"Thanks." He said, and not just for the renewed availability of his long lost foods.  
  
Gemini smiled and the two soon began to walk towards the dome.  
  
To be continued 


	15. Incentive

Once more I thank Naz for reviewing. Per your request, I have included some Neo/Trinity hoo-hah in this chapter.  
  
This chapter is not for the faint hearted, then again, neither was chapter 10. I'm considering increasing the rating to a muscular 'R'.  
  
Chapter 15: Incentive  
  
Neo and Trinity remained in the construct long after Silas and Gemini had concluded their feasting. They had changed the program from a scenic jungle to an unreasonably hot building, that was more a labyrinth of corridors and empty, featureless rooms that seemed to go on forever. The two were steadily creeping through these corridors and around corners in an effort to find, and promptly shoot each other.  
  
Since Neo's abilities as 'the one' had grown to their apex, he found that he no longer needed to use guns. Consequently, he was out of practice, giving Trinity the advantage.  
  
A faint noise behind him sent Neo edging back down the corridor he was creeping through. On the far wall, he saw what looked like a shadow flicker slightly.  
  
He grinned slightly, raised his gun at the wall and waited for Trinity to come flying around the corner. Little did he know however, that she was crouching, and as his bullets flew gracefully over her head, hers flew into his left arm.  
  
There was no pain, there never was in the construct, there was only a gentle numbness, followed by the sudden immobility of the 'injured' limb.  
  
Neo released a second wave of bullets which were slightly more successful then their predecessors. Trinity lost a leg and her left hand as a result of the bullets, which reduced her to an ungraceful heap on the floor. She tried to pull herself back up, but with nothing to support her, the task proved impossible.  
  
In the distance, she noticed Neo looking onwards, no doubt with a look of triumph on his face. She also noticed that her gun was still in her right hand.  
  
Trinity fired her three remaining bullets, one whizzed straight past Neo's head, another came dangerously close to his ribs, and a third smashed into his teeth.  
  
This officially counted as a 'kill shot', thereby ending the game. The corridor vanished and was replaced by the trademark white of the construct.  
  
It was Trinity's turn to display triumph. As the strength returned to her digital leg and hand, she pushed herself off of the floor and walked over to Neo, whose face displayed both irritation and humour.  
  
"So what's that?" Asked Trinity, "ten to four?"  
  
"Since when did you get ten?"  
  
"Well whatever it is? Do you want to call it a day."  
  
Neo's face changed slightly, from amused to sorrowful. This only lasted for a second, but Trinity was well aware of it, and why it had appeared.  
  
"You won't be stuck in the wheelchair for ever," she began, her voice was softer now, and more comforting, "and you know you can't stay in here all day."  
  
"Yeah I know." Said Neo dismissively, wanting to change the subject. After a few moments of silence, he reached into his coat's pocket for his phone;  
  
"Link, we're ready to leave."  
  
"Got it." Came the reply.  
  
**********************************************************  
  
Neo woke to a searing pain from his seared legs. His new disability was as frustrating as it was painful. He wanted almost nothing more then to smash the wheelchair he was cursed to sit in to a dusty remnant of a memory. He had promised himself that he would do exactly that when he was able to walk again.  
  
Before Trinity and Link could help into 'the seat of pain', as Silas had affectionately dubbed it, Morpheus entered the core with a quiet metallic clunk as he stepped off of the ladder.  
  
"Wait." He said as Link was removing the spike from Neo's head.  
  
"What is it?" Asked Trinity, staring in confussion as Morpheus hurriedly closed the small gap between himself and the Matrix terminals. He did not answer her, he just stared at the terminals.  
  
"Morpheus?" Trinity asked in a louder tone of voice. Morpheus still said nothing but pointed to an area of the green coding. Trinity stared for a few seconds and soon hurriedly sat down in the chair next to Neo.  
  
"Anyone want to fill us in here?" Said a confused Link.  
  
"It's the Oracle." Said Trinity.  
  
As Link fixed the spike into the back of her head, Morpheus quickly moved to a third chair and sat down.  
  
"Where is she?" Asked Neo.  
  
"In her house." Replied Morpheus whilst having a spike of his own rammed into his cranium.  
  
Link moved quickly towards the operator's station. Trinity, Morpheus and Neo all closed there eyes and waited.  
  
Moments later, they found themselves in the Matrix, Neo and Trinity found that they had to walk quickly to the point of almost running to keep up with Morpheus.  
  
"What's the problem," asked Neo who was beginning to feel concerned for the Oracle's well being, "Smith? Nazgul?"  
  
"There's nothing there," Morpheus said in his trademark calm tone of voice, "but we can't afford to dawdle. I don't want what happened to the 'Ra' happening to us."  
  
The three exited the building and walked out onto the street. Only to be stopped moments later by the sight that was there to greet them.  
  
There were bodies, dozens of bodies. The street was littered with them, all of which had been shot, stabbed, sliced in two. Some looked like they'd had their heads torn off.  
  
The three found that they could do nothing but stare at the corpses in horror and disbelief. The street was silent, there was no wind, no rain, nor any debris to disrupt the deceased. They all remained still, their faces, (the ones that were still attached to the bodies), all displayed twisted looks of pain and horror. Puddles of blood engulfed half the street.  
  
"Mr. Anderson, welcome back," Rage filled Neo's veins as soon as he heard the voice, "we missed you."  
  
Smith walked out from an alleyway not far from Neo's position, he was flanked by four Ring-wraiths, and seemed to be enjoying him self no end.  
  
"Like what we've done with the place?"  
  
It was a minor miracle that Neo didn't charge at Smith there and then.  
  
"Get the Oracle," he said through his teeth to Trinity and Morpheus, "I'll handle them."  
  
"Of course you will Mr. Anderson." Smith's voice sounded like he was resisting the urge to burst out laughing.  
  
Morpheus and Trinity ran down the street in the direction of the Oracle's house. They were not obstructed by Smith and his shadowy accomplices.  
  
"You'll die for this Smith." Neo hissed, turning to face his enemy.  
  
"Oh don't give me that, there aren't even that many dead, not yet at least. All we've been able to cover is this and one other street. We weren't expecting you this quickly you see? We thought we'd be able to take out a few blocks, maybe even the whole city before you pulled your head out of your arse. It's a shame really, I'd love to see your face when we take out the whole city, but I doubt you'll live that long."  
  
"You're forever saying stuff like that Smith, but very few people you've said it to are dead are they?"  
  
"Look around you Mr. Anderson, things change."  
  
To be continued. Continued to it be is. Yeah. 


	16. Failing

Thank you to Naz for reviewing. Its nice in a way to have only one consistent reviewer, it means i have to write less in the way of responses. Anywhat, onwards to the next chapter.  
  
Chapter 16: Failing  
  
"I think that's enough of a head start, don't you Mr. Anderson?" Neo remained silent; he did not know what Smith was talking about.  
  
"Get the others." Smith said quietly to the Nazgul.  
  
He knew now, Neo charged at the Ring wraiths to his left, but was sent skidding back the way he came by a fist from Smith. Seconds afterwards, the Nazgul set off down the road after Morpheus and Trinity.  
  
Neo pulled himself off of the floor, and tried the run again. This time he was ready for Smith.  
  
He deflected the first two blows with ease, and then found himself leaning forward over Smith's arm, which had smashed into his stomach. Something was wrong, he was faster then usual.  
  
"It's not like those other times is it Mr. Anderson?" Smith was talking through his teeth, as if he was trying to suppress anger, and was gradually failing.  
  
"Editors are wonderful things," he continued, "with a wave of a hand they can do what they wish, and we've found one that is a true believer in the cause of the new, New…"  
  
Smith was cut off in mid sentence as a kick to the Stomach from Neo sent him flying into the wall of a nearby bakery. The wall shattered in the areas where he struck it. Smith soon got to his feet though, he was unphased by this.  
  
"You talk too much Smith." Said Neo, who this time tried to fly after the Nazgul. Only to be brought down by a flying tackle from Smith.  
  
"You're too predictable Mr. Anderson."  
  
Neo pushed Smith away and stood up. Smith took his time in doing so, no doubt to give the Ring-wraiths more time. Neo would have gone after them again, if he did not believe that Smith had to be dealt with first, and if he did not believe that Morpheus and Trinity could look after themselves.  
  
Smith smiled when he saw that Neo had decided to stay and fight. He might be trying to justify his choice with excuses, but the truth was, in Smith's opinion, Neo wanted the fight as much as he did. The two were nemeses; this battle was meant to be.  
  
Smith charged at Neo and unleashed a wave of punches and low kicks at him, most of which did no discernable damage, or were deflected with relative ease. He then took several steps backwards.  
  
Neo just stared at him, wondering if the latest, inadequate display from Smith was the best he could do, or if he was just toying with him.  
  
'No,' thought Neo 'he wants above all to see me dead, he wouldn't play games now.'  
  
Wrong.  
  
He hardly saw him coming, and raised his hand too late. Smith's hand smashed into his face, and sent him flying into the already battered bakery wall. He fell from it onto the rubble strewn floor a second later. Blood was beginning to trickle from his mouth.  
  
"Flesh is weak Mr. Anderson."  
  
Neo ignored him; instead he sprung to a crouching position in an immeasurably short space of time, and started throwing piece after piece of shattered wall debris at Smith.  
  
The pieces were flying to fast, and one by one they crashed into Smith's body, slowly forcing him back down the street. The inhumanly fast speed of Neo's assault soon meant that he was out of missiles however.  
  
Smith dusted himself off. He remained undamaged, that wave of debris should have smashed him to pieces. It would have done before his upgrade, but now it seemed as if nothing could stop him.  
  
***********************************************************  
  
Trinity kicked down the door to the Oracle's house and found herself suddenly facing a gun wielding Seraph, who promptly lowered his weapon once he saw who had kicked down the door.  
  
"Were you followed?" He asked quickly.  
  
"I don't think so," Said Morpheus, who eyes were focused on the Kitchen door, "Where is she?"  
  
"She has already gone through the back door into Switzerland. She instructed me to leave you a message."  
  
Seraph was cut off by the sudden shrill of Ring Wraiths. He, Morpheus and Trinity quickly drew their firearms and pointed them towards the door and windows.  
  
One by one they came, all drawing swords. The three opened fire and the Ring Wraiths were stopped in their tracks by the shower of bullets. Morpheus targeted the one that was closest to him, and quickly wrapped his hands around the creature's head, intending to snap its neck. Instead, his hands passed straight through the creature, who then sent Morpheus flying through the wall into the kitchen with a blow to the ribs.  
  
Trinity and Seraph continued firing but fell back through the kitchen door. Morpheus was slowly picking his bruised form off of the floor and searching for something he could use as a weapon. The best thing he could find however was a short, flimsy kitchen knife.  
  
The Nazgul came through the door, each pointing their swords forward and moving towards the three slowly, and in unison.  
  
"We have to get through the door, quickly." Seraph said whilst firing his final bullets into a Wraith.  
  
"What about Neo?" Trinity shouted over her own gunfire.  
  
"We can't help him."  
  
The three charged through the door. Seraph quickly slammed it shut and opened it again to reveal another room, unspoiled by gunfire. A large window let in a blinding light, but through it, the seated form of the Oracle could be seen.  
  
Morpheus quickly walked through the door, followed by the other two.  
  
"Sit down please, all of you." The Oracle's voice was quiet. She sounded depressed."  
  
The three sat down in seats that faced the Oracle in a semi-circle.  
  
"Seraph said you have a message for us." Said Trinity.  
  
"Yes, yes I do. The New Order, the one that wants to destroy humanity are winning, they have destroyed several of your ships, and their purging of human life has already begun."  
  
"We noticed." Said Trinity impatiently. She didn't want to be sitting here listening to the Oracle speak at an infuriatingly slow speed, she wanted to be helping Neo, wherever he was. She knew something was wrong, in the past he would have disposed of Smith without breaking a sweat.  
  
"Yes," continued the Oracle, "at this point I'm not even sure if they can be stopped. We have only one hope of stopping them, and it may already be too late."  
  
"Too late for what?" Asked Morpheus.  
  
To be continued. 


	17. A small victory

Everything that has a beginning has an end.  
  
I am nowhere near the end however.  
  
3. (Rolls eyes)  
  
Ah shut up.  
  
Thankings once more to Natalie, enjoy Switzerland when you go there, don't fall in any puddles.   
  
Chapter 17: A small victory.  
  
Neo lay face down on the hard concrete floor next to a decapitated corpse. He knew he had to get up, but part of him, a disturbingly large part wanted nothing more then to cling to the floor, to rest until the pain and weariness had vanished.  
  
Smith wasn't in a much better shape. Neo had been able to inflict a fair amount of damage on the enhanced, former agent. Unfortunately, it was not enough to destroy him.  
  
Smith looked over the battered and beaten form of 'the one'. He had finally defeated him. Grim satisfaction flooded through him, he wanted to savour this moment for as long as was possible. Consequently, he was content to stand over his enemy for a few more minutes.  
  
"Aren't you going to get up Mr. Anderson? Or are you going to lay there and cower? I don't really care which, you are beaten, and you're species is soon to follow. Maybe I'll start with Trinity," Smith crouched down, he was almost whispering into Neo's ear, "you have my word Mr. Anderson; that she'll die slowly, probably calling your name…"  
  
This stirred Neo, summoning all of his strength; he twisted round and smashed his fist as hard as he could into the surprised program's jaw.  
  
Smith flew backwards, and landed roughly five feet away. He was laughing as he got back up with relative ease.  
  
"Now that's more like it Mr. Anderson, let your emotions give you strength, let your so called love for that pathetic heap of flesh fuel your desire to kill me. I find it rather amusi…"  
  
Smith turned his head and looked to his left; a faint whistling sound had suddenly caught his attention. A look of fear crossed his face as he realised what that whistle was.  
  
Necromancer and Silas cheered as the rocket from the handy bazooka that they'd taken from the construct smashed straight into Smith. The resulting explosion and rubble from the wall that was behind him covered the area surrounding the explosion from sight.  
  
This cheering soon died out however as an enraged looking Smith emerged from the dust. Burn marks and scars covered his face and hands; he still wore an amused expression however.  
  
"Mr. Cavallo; and his friend the thief. Have you come to die with your friend here?"  
  
Silas and Necromancer hurriedly began loading another rocket, this was unnecessary however. In the corner of his eye, Silas noticed a sudden, spontaneous, and surprising jerk from Smith.  
  
On closer examination, he discovered that Neo had, somehow, put his fist, literally, through Smith's face. He pushed the deceased program away a second later. The remnants of his nemesis went down to join the other deceased people on the street.  
  
"Wow." Said Silas, almost involuntary, after remembering that there were dozens of corpses at his feet however, his surprised and triumphant expression was instantly gone.  
  
"Are you alright?" Asked Necromancer.  
  
"Yeah," stuttered Neo, "I just need a second."  
  
"What happened here?" Asked Silas quietly, staring down at the bodies.  
  
"The New Order is moving through the city, killing as they go. They've got the editor, it's the reason that Smith was so hard to take out."  
  
"He's gonna stay dead right?" Asked Silas, examining Smith's broken corpse.  
  
"Yeah," replied Neo in a tone of voice that showed that he was not sure himself, "come on, we have to help the others."  
  
Before Silas and Necromancer could inquire as to where the others were, Neo took off down the street at an inhumanly fast pace. It would be impossible for the two mere mortals to catch up with him.  
  
"Come on," said Necromancer, "he's probably heading for the Oracle's house."  
  
***************************************************************The Nazgul were still at the house when Neo arrived. They were tearing the place apart, looking for a key that would, hopefully, change the location the door in the kitchen opened to. Every so often they would shriek to one another. What they were saying was known only to them.  
  
All of them turned to face Neo as he stepped through the door. The look in his eyes was one of a calm, focused psychopath. All of the Nazgul reached for their swords, but a raised hand from Neo pulled them from their holsters instead.  
  
The swords dangled in front of the startled Ring Wraiths for a few seconds, before moving at so fast a speed that they were impossible to see. Each one slashed through the metal clad bodies of their former owners. All of whom shrieked in pain, and fell to the floor. They were still alive, but they were immobile, and harmless.  
  
Neo sat down on the one seat that was still able to be called a seat. The others had been ripped to shreds, either by a Ring Wraith, or by gunfire.  
  
He didn't have to search the house to see that there were no dead human bodies. The green coding that was all he could see in the Matrix told him that there weren't. He suspected that they had gone through the Oracle's emergency exit. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to follow him. The location on the other end had obviously changed, and the coding revealed no signs of a key.  
  
Silas and Necromancer eventually arrived at the house. Both of them were breathless and weary, it was a long way from the entrance building to the Oracle's house.  
  
"Neo?" Said Necromancer, feeling surprisingly, unsurprised at the assorted Ring-Wraith corpses on the floor, "where are they?"  
  
"They…" Neo was cut off by the sound of an opening door. Going through into the kitchen, he saw that Morpheus, Trinity, the Oracle and Seraph had returned.  
  
"Neo!" Trinity half-shouted almost instantly, she charged over to him and flung he arms around his neck.  
  
"We need to get back to the ship now." Said Morpheus, who, for the first time in years, looked worried.  
  
To be continued.  
  
A short one I know, the next one should be longer. I think that's my fastest update. Neat. 


	18. Preparation for Suicide

Thanks once more to Natalie for reviewing. Where did I get what exactly? I'm missing something here.  
  
Chapter 18: Preparation for Suicide  
  
Neo was, as per usual, the last one to leave the Matrix. The reason for this being that he'd be the most likely to survive a fight with a troublesome program that decided to show up whilst the crew were returning to the Nebuchadnezzar.  
  
Something was different when he opened his eyes and found himself back onboard the ship however. He felt different; he just couldn't identify what it was that was different however.  
  
Necromancer and Gemini walked over to him, Silas was pushing the wheel chair towards him. Neo simply stared at the chair with a mixture of anger and confussion. The difference that he was feeling was emphasised whenever he looked at the chair.  
  
Silas came to a halt roughly half a meter away from Neo's position. When he stepped out of the way, Neo then realised exactly what was different.   
  
He raised one arm towards the wheelchair. At first, it did nothing, then slowly, it began the metallic bars began to crease. The chair was folding in on itself. It was soon reduced to a crumpled heap of broken metal on the floor.  
  
The others stared at the sight in disbelief. Neo shouldn't have been able to alter the real world with his mind, only the matrix. The real world based powers of the one were supposed to be nothing more then features of the two Matrix sequels.  
  
"How the?" Began Cypher, who cut himself off in mid sentence, too shocked to speak.  
  
Neo then placed his hands on his scarred legs. After a few moments, he grinned with satisfaction, and tried to stand up, only to be dragged back down by the spike that was still locked in his cranium.  
  
"Uh, can someone get that?" He asked calmly.  
  
Silas stepped forward and pulled the spike from Neo's head. He was not as shocked as the others, mainly because he had come to associate this ability with Neo in the days before he was un-plugged and living off of information provided by the movies. Also, he had been surprised and shocked so many times in the last few months that they were starting to loose their effect on him.  
  
Neo stood up effortlessly, he had repaired his legs. The shocked faces stared on.  
  
"How is this possible?" Asked Morpheus.  
  
"I don't know," stuttered Neo, his voice was bouncing back and forth between confussion and joy, "I just knew I could do it. I don't, it's difficult to explain."  
  
After a few more moments of staring and confussion, the crew decided that they weren't going to get an explanation that made any sense to them, and moved on to the mess hall to discuss what the Oracle had told Trinity and Morpheus. Most of the crew still cast the odd, surprised glance towards Neo however.  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
It was uncomfortably cramped in the mess hall with everyone cramped together. Silas was seated on the end of the metallic bench and was trying, with limited success, to keep himself from falling to the floor.  
  
"As you have probably guessed," Began Morpheus, "the New Order has begun killing humans wherever they can find them. Thankfully, the death toll isn't overly high yet, and with Smith out of the way, things should be slightly easier. Things won't stay that way for long however, which is why we must move quickly."  
  
"The Oracle has provided us with the location of the New Order's base of operations." Trinity was speaking now, "it is also where they are keeping the editor. If we can take him out, then the rest of the programs will, hopefully, fall to the guns of a battalion of military forces and agents which is being assembled in preparation for an assault on the building. If we fail, the editor can just create an army of advanced programs like Smith, and the Matrix will fall to the New Order."  
  
An uneasy silence lingered in the room for a few seconds.  
  
"Fail in doing what?" Asked Orion.  
  
"Taking out the editor." Trinity replied, looking at Orion as if he'd just asked what air was.  
  
"I thought as much, I just wanted to be clear."  
  
"This will not be an easy mission." Morpheus said quickly, "The editor will most likely be as strong as Smith, if not stronger, I won't lie, it is unlikely that we can…"  
  
"Just get me close enough to him," Neo said, matter-of-factly, "and I can take him out"  
  
"No offence Neo," Silas began, feeling slightly confused by Neo's statement, "but Smith almost killed you. He probably would of if me and Nec…"   
  
"I know." Said Neo, "again I can't explain it, but I believe, I know that I can defeat him, just so long as I can get close enough to him."  
  
"He's our best chance for taking the editor out anyway." Necromancer added.  
  
"Alright." Said Morpheus, before he could get on with the mission briefing however, he was cut off by Gemini.  
  
"Will we be getting any support from the agents?"  
  
"No," Morpheus answered in a slightly annoyed tone of voice, "the machines have decided that they can't spare a single one."  
  
"Bastards." Whispered Link.  
  
Another silence filled the room; already the situation was beginning to look more and more hopeless, despite the fact that they had not been properly briefed on the mission yet. Only Neo did not show signs of depression.   
  
"Our best chance of getting to him is to make our way through the air vents of the enemy headquarters," Trinity said to break the silence, Link and Orion will upload the building's schematics into you before we head in. The security of the building is heavy. There are guards in almost every room, and surveillance camera's almost everywhere."  
  
"Silas, Necromancer and Gemini," Morpheus said shortly after Trinity had finished speaking, "your job will be to create a diversion near the entrance to the building. Myself, Neo and Trinity will go for the editor."  
  
The heads of those mentioned, with the exception of Morpheus' nodded.   
  
"Are there any questions?" Morpheus asked.  
  
"When do we leave?" Asked Gemini.  
  
"In quarter of an hour."  
  
Another silence lingered in the room, the purpose of which was to allow more questions to be asked. When it became clear that none would be however, Morpheus and Trinity began to head for the exit, followed closely by the others.  
  
To be continued.  
  
O.K, so it's not that much longer, and that some of it makes little to no sense. All shall be explained soon however. I don't know how many more chapters I'll do, but the end this way doth come. 


	19. Distraction

Lies, all lies! Of course you're funny Natalie. Why do you think you parodies get good reviews? Why do you think I continually find myself reading 'Fellowship of the sunglasses'?   
  
Anyways, thanks for your review and onwards to chapter 19.  
  
Chapter 19: Distraction  
  
"That's the place" said Gemini who was busy loading both of her Uzi's.  
  
"Everyone remember their assignments?" Necromancer asked in an unusually serious tone of voice.  
  
"Yes master." Replied a sarcastic Silas, with underlying fear in his voice.  
  
"Hey," Necromancer's voice became louder then he had intended, causing a few nearby starlings, which were busy stealing berries from a nearby tree to fly away in fear, "this mission will probably determine the outcome of the war. Forgive me if I'm not my usual, dynamic self."  
  
"Quiet." Gemini said quietly, yet forcefully.  
  
A few moments of silence passed, in which the three simply stared at the huge building. To passers by it would be no more daunting then the sky-scrapers next to it. But Gemini, Silas and Necromancer knew exactly what was inside, and how likely it was that the three of them would die in the building, very, very soon.  
  
"Let's go." Said Necromancer, who was already moving towards the building.  
  
The street was disserted. The people of the city had either got as far away from it as was possible, or had been put to the sword, or shrapnel, or the receiving end of a bullet.  
  
The three were hiding in a small, cramped alleyway on the opposite side of the street. There were ten program guards in total by the exit, all of whom looked, more or less, human. Many of them looked half asleep. They were obviously not expecting what happened next.  
  
A loud whistling replaced the eerie quiet of the street. All of the guards looked up in unison, only to see three, very large bazooka rockets flying towards them.  
  
One program took a direct hit to the neck; he was incinerated instantly, along with three of the other guards who were standing next to him.  
  
The remaining rockets smashed into the building behind, causing building debris to fly in all directions. One guard was torn to pieces by flying debris; four more were buried under piles of falling debris, all of whom died shortly thereafter.  
  
Only one program had survived the blast, he was promptly taken down by a few bullets from Necromancer's Uzi.  
  
The three walked onwards towards the shattered entrance. They were halfway across the road when the first guards appeared from the hole in the wall.  
  
Silas, Necromancer and Gemini were quicker in firing then their enemy. Bodies of deceased programs fell to the floor; their dying screams were silenced by the deafening gunfire.  
  
The three scattered in various directions so as to minimise the risk of getting shot. Bullets were whizzing back and forth between human and program. Dust from smoke grenades and the felled pieces of the building were making it harder and harder to see.  
  
"Whatever you're gonna do," screamed Silas into his phone, "do it now!"  
  
Two of the guards, slightly more courageous, and much more foolish then the others, charged towards Gemini's position. One was sent back the way she came with a kick to the ribs. Another was impaled on the end of a sadistic looking knife that Gemini had picked up from the construct.  
  
Silas was almost enjoying himself. A kick to the head saw off another pestiferous program, two more fell when the remaining bullets from his Uzi were implanted into their heads.  
  
"Necromancer! Gemini! We have to get out of here!" He yelled during the brief pause in the gunfire which was brought about by the programs needing to reload their weapons.  
  
Gemini was the first to emerge from the smoke, she gripped Silas' arm and virtually dragged him away from the battle. Soon enough however, Silas was running without any more incentive then the possibility of a bullet in the skull.  
  
Necromancer's retreat was slightly more troublesome. A machete wielding program was continually trying to slice him to pieces.  
  
Necromancer dodged and deflected several blows from the enemy. This was all he could do however; the program was too fast and was attacking too quickly to allow anything even resembling a counterattack to tae place.  
  
The solution was eventually provided when Necromancer grabbed the program's wrist during another swing of the blade. The artificial creature looked at his former target's face. His expression was one of great surprise; he appeared to be amazed that a mere mortal could have stopped his movements.  
  
This quickly gave way to pain however as Necromancer kicked him away, and into a nearby streetlight. The pole supporting the light broke in two as the program smashed through it. Shards of glass and metal tore at his 'skin', and the machete wielding menace was soon reduced to yet another corpse on the battle scarred street.  
  
Necromancer took off down the road in the same direction as he had seen Gemini go; he was unhindered by any gunfire as the programs were mostly shooting at the position of the broken streetlight.  
  
When he was clear of the battle zone, Necromancer realised that his phone was ringing.  
  
"Yeah?" He spoke into it.  
  
"Thank God, we thought you were dead." It was Gemini's voice, "there's an exit at the park at the end of the street, a payphone."  
  
"I'll be there before you know it."  
  
Necromancer stowed the phone and continued to sprint. He occasionally turned his head to see if he was being followed, he saw nothing however.  
  
After a few seconds, the park was in sight, as was the payphone. There were still no pursuers.  
  
"The stupid bastards are probably still shooting at the street lamp," he said to himself, deciding to walk the last three meters to the phone booth.  
  
As he went to open the door, Necromancer felt a strong grip on his shoulder, as he turned around, he saw a short, (by comparison), looking human, or, more likely, a short human look-a-like.  
  
The latter was soon confirmed as he felt the programs hand being rammed through his stomach. There wasn't too much pain, but it was a shocking sight to behold.  
  
"With your death, and resulting explosion, we'll take out Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and all those troublesome symbols of hope for you weak…"  
  
The sound of gunshots shut the program up. Looking to his right, he saw the un-smiling face of Silas Cavallo staring at him, with gun in hand.  
  
A second wave of bullets smashed through the programs arm, he removed it from Necromancer with a shriek of pain. Necromancer then fell back against the booth for support. Silas then fired another bullet which took the program's neck out from under its head.  
  
"Are you alright?" Silas said, walking over to Necromancer.  
  
"Yeah," he replied wearily, "just a bit hot."  
  
"Come on," Silas said, "We've done our part. It's up to Neo and the others now."  
  
To be continued.  
  
P.S. Thankings to all who reviewed 'The final battle of Zion, told by a fool'. I haven't been able to read them yet for some reason, but thankings anyway. 


	20. It ends tonight

Right, where was I?  
  
Thanks yet again to Natalie for reviewing. What do you mean better then usual? My work is consistently perfect. Nah, seriously though. Thanks for your many reviews over the last few weeks/month.  
  
P.S. I know the Smith/Neo Revolutions fight scene has already been parodied by yourself and Agent Josey. In the third chapter of my parody like parody I intend to do one of my own. Fear not, it will be completely different from yourselves' work like workings, and if you are opposed to this to the extent of sketching crude stick figures of me and promptly tearing them to shreds then let me know and I'll think of something else.  
  
Right, now onwards to the chapter.  
  
Chapter 20: It Ends Tonight  
  
It was cramped, hot, dark, slippery and disorienting in the air vent. Consequently Neo, Trinity and Morpheus were moving at an annoyingly slow speed.  
  
Voices could be heard from the outside. Each one sent an icy chill down Morpheus and Trinity's spines. Neo however, for a reason known only to himself, was unafraid. The look on his face was one of calm, detached professionalism, tainted only slightly by the discomfort he felt being stuck in the vent.  
  
After a few more minutes, Morpheus, who was at the head of the line, came to an abrupt halt.  
  
"This is it." He said with surprising traces of fear in his voice.  
  
"There are four of them down there," said Neo, who was studying the green coding in front of him, "one has a knife but the rest are unarmed, none of them are enhanced."  
  
"How do you know that?" Asked Trinity, "You didn't know that Smith had been upgraded when you fought him."  
  
"I can see it now." Replied Neo.  
  
"What?"  
  
"We don't have time for this," Morpheus whispered harshly, "on three, three, two, one, now!"  
  
Neo placed his hand on the vent's left wall, which promptly exploded a second later in a shower of splinters. All of which flew towards the four programs below.  
  
There was screaming and confussion as the metallic shards ripped through artificial flesh. Three of the programs fell to the floor, either dead or immobile. The one that was still standing was soon saw to by a series of punches and kicks from Trinity.  
  
The three walked to the nearby door as if nothing had happened, leaving the collection of dead, or dying programs behind them.  
  
The corridors were refreshingly cool and unsurprisingly more spacious then the air vent the three had been forced to crawl about in for the last half hour. The corridor was also surprisingly free of security personnel. Most of which were busy chasing after Necromancer, Silas and Gemini. The security cameras, motion sensors and all extravagant security devices were either malfunctioning, or displaying inaccurate information, courtesy of Neo.  
  
At the end of the hall, so the Oracle had told them, was a 'backdoor' which lead to a corridor and at the end of that was a room in which the editor dwelled.  
  
After turning another corner, Neo, Trinity and Morpheus found themselves face to face with two of the remaining Nazgul. The beasts shrieked loudly upon seeing the three humans.  
  
Morpheus let loose a string of bullets from his firearm. All of which penetrated the armour shielding the Ring wraith's chest, and caused the creature to take a few steps back and shriek with pain.  
  
Neo extended his arms and within seconds, the Nazgul's swords had been willed into his hands. The Nazgul looked at each other in confussion, which was later banished as the two swords were flung at an immeasurable speed in their direction.  
  
The Ring Wraiths were flung backwards and smashed through the wall into open air, and a long fall to the ground below them. Neo grunted in satisfaction, earning him an amused, querying stare from Trinity. He simply shrugged in response as the three began to walk towards the door.  
  
They did not get far however, before they were interrupted again. This time it was by roughly twenty or so heavily armed humanoid programs, and one that looked more like a cross between a werewolf and a scorpion. Obviously the Editor had been busy.  
  
"Go." Said Neo calmly.  
  
"What?" replied Trinity, whilst keeping her gun trained on the numerous blank faces.  
  
"Trust me, I'll be fine, I can't do this with you here."  
  
"Trinity, come with me!" Shouted Morpheus, as he, and the reluctant Trinity began to run away from the enemy, they opened fire.  
  
All of the bullets were stopped, without any apparent effort, by Neo. The crowd of exiles looked at the sight with disappointed, but not overly surprised faces. 'The One' had been known to do things like this where bullets were involved, thus forcing his opponents to attack with their fists, or a blade of some description.  
  
But not today.  
  
The bullets all turned a 180 degree turn. They were too small and far away from the programs for them to be able to notice this, and when they did, the bullets had already flew back in their direction, and straight through their bodies.  
  
Neo wasn't pestered any more on his way to the Editor's chamber. The white corridor that contained the numerous back doors was unusually small. Usually they went on for what seemed like miles. This one only stretched for five meters in either direction.  
  
The door Neo wanted looked no different then the others. It was a faint green with a simple, grey, metallic handle. The room it led to was anything but simple however.  
  
It appeared to stretch on for miles. It was decorated with extravagant tapestries, paintings, carpets, ornaments and virtually every decorative item known to man. Bright, almost blinding lights filled the room, and in the centre stood a single, large chair. In which a short, thin looking male, who was presumably the Editor, sat.  
  
"At last, we meet." The voice was clear, but had an untraceable accent. The Editor himself was dressed in fairly simple, plain clothes, (unlike the room).  
  
"You're the Editor?" Neo said emotionlessly.  
  
"I am," the voice was calm, there was no underlying fear, no sense of despair or triumph, nothing, "fitting isn't it? The champions of the New Order and the humans of Zion meeting for the final battle? Maybe when the worlds are free of you we'll make a film about it."  
  
"I didn't come here to listen to premature boasting," traces of anger were finding their way into Neo's voice now, "I came here to kill you."  
  
The Editor was silent for a few seconds, as if holding back anger that had come from a mere human interrupting him.  
  
"You're right," he said suddenly, "enough talk. Time is a precious commodity, we mustn't waste it. But we can't fight here can we? It's just not practical. Hmm, let me think."  
  
The program waved his hand, and in an instant the room was changed from a bright, magnificent hall, to a small, dark square room with nothing within it except a large mirror that covered a whole wall.  
  
"Now Neo," he said, "let's first make sure that we both understand one thing, the other editors have already created an army of enhanced agents that are coming to destroy us, and as long as you're still alive, I can't edit my own, more numerous army. In short, whoever wins this battle, wins the war. Shall we begin?"  
  
To be concluded 


	21. Something no one expected

At long last we arrive hither at the end.  
  
As I have done throughout the last 16 or so chapters, I shall start by thanking yourself Natalie for the consistent string of reviews throughout the weeks. I shall also thank everyone else who has reviewed this story.  
  
Sorry to hear about your recent person related problem like conversational thing. Anyone who thinks you go about ruining lives must be lying, idiotic or dellusional, or all three.  
  
I don't know if this is even remotely helpful, but it's the closest thing to a re-assuring message I can think of.  
  
Good hunting.  
  
Chapter 21: Something no one expected  
  
Neo propelled himself off of the wall he had been thrown against and buried his fist as deep as he could into the Editor's face. The program was knocked back slightly, but otherwise undamaged. As the Nebuchadnezzar's crew had predicted, the Editor was indeed tougher then Smith.  
  
The program threw a few more punches at Neo, most of which were dodged, blocked or deflected. One however found its way into Neo's stomach.  
  
The force of the blow would have killed a normal human, Neo however simply folded himself over the fist and tried to block out the pain so as to allow getting back to his feet easier.  
  
"You see Neo, unlike you, we are not bound by the limitations that have been inflicted upon us, perfection for us is but a wave of my arm aw..."  
  
Neo smashed another fist, followed by an inhumanly fast spinning kick, into the Editor's teeth; two of which were knocked out.   
  
The Editor placed a hand to his mouth, when he examined it seconds later he found traces of blood on it. He shook his head for a few seconds in disbelief.  
  
Neo wasted no time; he delivered a kick to the Editor that sent the program flying backwards into the mirror, which promptly shattered when he crashed into it.  
  
Glass fragments scratched at the Editor's artificial skin, unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the glass was not enough to kill him.  
  
Neo launched himself at the Editor, intending to deliver a flying kick to the program's head. Instead, his enemy grabbed his leg and smashed him against the wall.  
  
Neo grunted in pain, he tried to stand up but found that the Editor had not let go of him, and promptly found himself being smashed into the wall once more.  
  
The second impact was more painful then the first. The Editor was smashing him into the wall at such a high speed that it was hard to see.  
  
A third impact almost knocked him out. Everything became blurry; time suddenly seemed to move more slowly. Neo tried to focus, but found it next to impossible.  
  
In the distance, he thought he heard the sound of gunshots.  
  
**********************************************************************************************  
  
The small team of exiles, led by Malachi, the leader of the surviving, loyal members of the 'New Order' were firing everything they had at the Editor. None of the bullets seemed to affect him any more then the glass had however.  
  
"This isn't working sir!" Screamed Athena over the noise of the continuous gunshots, "we have to fall back!"  
  
The Editor, who had recovered from the shock of seeing members of the original New Order this far into his base, raised his hand to point at one of the programs that was firing at him. After a few seconds, the firing from her weapon stopped and she and her weapon were incinerated.  
  
"Fall back!" Screamed Malachi suddenly, "Get back to the entrance."  
  
The Editor raised his hand again, and the door slammed shut and locked. Malachi kicked it, nothing.  
  
Another program, a young male was incinerated a second later. Needless to say, things were beginning to look grim.  
  
The Editor raised both his hands, intending to take out both Malachi and Athena at the same time. Then something happened.  
  
Neo, who had recovered enough to get up and walk, grabbed both of the Editor's arms, and, summoning all of his strength, tore them from the rest of the program.  
  
A short, painful scream filled the room. The Editor fell to the blood stained floor. Neo raised his hand once more, and drove it straight through the Editor's face. The 'champion' of the new, New Order fell to the floor; he was dead.  
  
Malachi and Athena stared at the sight in confussion and fear for a few seconds. This soon gave way to a burst of triumph.  
  
"Nice" said Athena after a few seconds.  
  
"Who are you?" Said Neo, who was feeling understandably anti-social.  
  
"I am Malachi, of the true New Order, this is my Lieutenant Athena. Thank you Neo, you have, assuming all goes well, saved us all from destruction."  
  
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Neo said with obvious confussion in his voice, "but the last time I checked, the New Order, both of them, were at war with us."  
  
An uncomfortable silence filled the room; Malachi and Athena were both perfectly aware that the situation could not be rectified with a simple 'thank you'.  
  
"We were fools," Malachi said suddenly, "we saw you as the enemy because you made peace with the machines. We wanted vengeance, and it didn't matter who was on the receiving end, and at the time we thought we were strong enough to pull it off. We know now that you were only trying to protect yourselves, and we apologise."  
  
Neo needed a few moments, due mainly to the fact that he was still slightly disoriented, to absorb this information. He believed the program in front of him, but where the two factions went from here was anyone's guess.  
  
"We need to get out of here," said Athena suddenly, "the Agent's will be coming through the front door within moments, and we're still on their hit list."  
  
Neo nodded and steadily made his way to the door, which he promptly destroyed with an effortless looking kick.  
  
"It's probably better if we go our separate ways," he said, "I'll tell the others what you said."  
  
Neo was almost out of their sight when something occurred to him.  
  
"Answer me something," he said, anger now creeping into his voice, "was it the 'true' Neo Order that destroyed the 'Ra' and the 'Hope'?"  
  
"No!" Malachi half shouted, "All of the burners were traitors. The one known as Silas Cavallo killed the one that took out the 'Hope', the other one was killed by a human known as Poison."  
  
Neo recognised the name, the late Captain Poison of the 'Ra'.  
  
"I'd not come near us again if I were you."  
  
"We'll leave you alone if you leave us alone."  
  
Neo didn't answer Malachi, he simply left.  
  
**********************************************************************************************  
  
Two weeks later  
  
Once the realisation that the war was over eventually dawned on Neo, his mood improved no end, and stayed that way for two solid weeks. It was the same with all the people of Zion  
  
The day after the final battle, the Oracle told Neo that his new, seemingly unexplainable abilities had come from the fact that he had been 'edited' when he killed Smith. A part of him was effectively cut and pasted into Neo when he put his fist through Smith's face. It was this that had led to Neo's enhancement. She had also told him that Smith and the Editor were, and would stay dead, which also helped improve Neo's mood.  
  
The new, New Order had been eradicated by the Agent's assault. The only survivors of the program rebellion were from the original, or 'true' New Order. All of whom, as well as all other exiles, had been granted their freedom by the machines, as part of the Human/Machine peace treaty that had, finally, been agreed to.  
  
The surviving ships had flown, or been dragged, back to Zion. Again there was a hero's welcome, with cheering and thrown solidified food a plenty. There was another memorial service for those that had been lost in the war which again brought tears to everyone's eyes.  
  
The Neo worshippers had a field day. This time one person actually made it through the hole that was once the front window of the Nebuchadnezzar. He was led to the stockade shortly afterwards.  
  
An unknown person, although everyone assumed it was Necromancer, had scratched 'a long overdue happy ending' onto the mess hall table, which the crew were all seated around for a celebratory drink.  
  
Cypher, (who had been unable to partake in the final battle due to shrapnel damage to the plug in the back of his head,) was passed out on the floor, snoring loudly. The others were still reasonably sober.  
  
"He never was able to hold his alcohol." Said Morpheus with a grin.  
  
There was some quiet laughter, but all anyone really wanted to do was bask in the knowledge that they were, for now at least, safe, secure and on shore leave. All the troubles of the world could wait.  
  
"So what now?" Asked Gemini after a few minutes of silence, "is everyone going to be freed from the Matrix? Will we still have a job to do onboard the Neb?"  
  
"They decided to do it the same way as in the movies," said Trinity, "everyone who wants to stay stays, everyone who doesn't comes to us. So I guess with all those un-plugged people to bring back, it looks like we'll have plenty to do."  
  
"Let's just hope that we don't have to do anything even remotely connected to work for the next year," said Silas, downing another gulp of the nerve disrupting tonic that passed for alcohol in Zion, "I think we could all use a break."  
  
"Amen to that," Said Link, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I need to sleep for at least a week."  
  
"My thoughts exactly," said Orion and Necromancer in unison.  
  
Soon enough, all of the Nebuchadnezzar crewmembers decided to retire to their Zion based homes, each of them grinning with well earned contentment.  
  
The End.  
  
If anyone can't remember Malachi, he's mentioned in one of he earlier chapters.  
  
O.K I admit it, I forgot to include Cypher in the final battle. DAMN SHITTING SHITPIPE! Anyway, I may do something else in the Silas series in later days, if I ever come up with some new ideas.  
  
Thanks again to all those who have reviewed this since chapter one.  
  
Dedicated to G.F. Wilmettes, (if I don't dedicate something to him/her now I never will), the Angel-of-lightness/someone who has lungs/Natalie, I'm not going to say why just to be awkward, it's obvious anyway, and finally, uh, come on damn it think of someone.  
  
Nope, that's all I can think of.  
  
Toodles. 


End file.
